Detailed optimum design of reinforced concrete frame structures

摘要

This paper presents an optimum design approach for reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures which are excited by static and dynamic forces. In this approach, dimensions and reinforcements of all structural members are individually optimized without grouping them for optimum design. During optimization, the design rules given in ACI-318 (Building code requirements for reinforced concrete structures) are considered. Detailed seismic analyses are done by conducting time history analyses. The aim of the optimization is to find the most economical design of the frame structure. Additionally, the weight of the structure is indirectly reduced because of the consideration of dynamic analyses. A modified Harmony Search (HS) algorithm with additional random search iterations is developed for the optimization. The proposed method was demonstrated with a symmetric structure. The results show that the approach is feasible to find optimum designs of different structural members of RC frames.