The construction economy is one of the major goals of engineers and only an experienced engineer can make an economical design after several trial efforts. Whereas, the optimum design of structures can be found by using metaheuristic methods. Especially, the optimum design of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is challenging since two materials with different price and behavior are used. In that case, the optimization problem is highly non-linear and the developed methods employing harmony search (HS) algorithm is effective to solve the problem in several random stages. As the numerical example, the method was tested for two-story two-span RC frames. The results show that the metaheuristic based methodology is feasible.
In this study, multi-story structures with different combinations (on each floor and only the first floor) of active tendon control systems driven by a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller were actively controlled. The PID parameters, Kp (proportional gain), Td (derivative gain), and Ti (integral gain) for each structure, were optimally tuned by using both the harmony search algorithm (HS) and flower pollination algorithm (FPA), which are metaheuristic algorithms. In two different active-controlled structures, which are formed according to the position of the PID, the structural responses under near-fault records defined in FEMA P-695 are examined to determine the appropriate feedback which was applied for displacement, velocity, acceleration, and total acceleration. The performance of the different feedback strategies on these two active-controlled structures is evaluated. As a result, the acceleration feedback is suitable for all combinations of the active control system with a PID controller. The HS algorithm outperforms the optimum results found according to the FPA.
The locations of structural members can be provided according to architectural projects in the design of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The design of dimensions is the subject of civil engineering, and these designs are done according to the experience of the designer by considering the regulation suggestions, but these dimensions and the required reinforcement plan may not be optimum. For that reason, the dimensions and detailed reinforcement design of RC structures can be found by using optimization methods. To reach optimum results, metaheuristic algorithms can be used. In this study, several metaheuristic algorithms such as harmony search, bat algorithm and teaching learning-based optimization are used in the design of several RC beams for cost minimization. The optimum results are presented for different strength of concrete. The results show that using high strength material for high flexural moment capacity has lower cost than low stretch concrete since doubly reinforced design is not an optimum choice. The results prove that a definite metaheuristic algorithm cannot be proposed for the best optimum design of an engineering problem. According to the investigation of compressive strength of concrete, it can be said that a low strength material are optimum for low flexural moment, while a high strength material may be the optimum one by the increase of the flexural moment as expected.
In active control of structures, the parameters of controllers used application must be perfectly tuned. In that case, a good vibration reduction performance can be obtained without a stability problem. During the tuning process, the limit of control force and time delay of controller system must be considered for applicable design. In the study, the optimum parameters of Proportional-Derivative-Integral (PID) type controllers that are proportional gain (K), integral time (Ti) and derivative time (Td) were optimized by using teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO). TLBO is a metaheuristic algorithm imitating the teaching and learning phases of education in classroom. The optimization was done according to the responses of the structure under a directivity pulse of near fault ground motions. In the study, time delay was considered as 20 ms and the optimum parameters of PID controller for a single degree of freedom (SDOF) structural model was found for different control force limits. The performances and feasibility of the method were evaluated by using sets of near fault earthquake records.
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