Title: Multi-objective optimisation of steel moment frames subjected to blast

Authors: Nima Khaledy; Alireza Habibi; Parham Memarzadeh

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran ' Department of Civil Engineering, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran ' Department of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

Abstract: In recent decades, terrorist attacks have been increased all over the world. For this reason, the design of blast resistant structures is very crucial. On the other hand, for decades the optimum design of structures has been an interesting subject for structural engineers and researchers as it can provide cost and behavioural efficiencies. In the current research, the optimum design of steel moment frames under blast loading has been studied. Towards that end, first, a damage index is developed based on the maximum plastic strain in the members. Then, according to the damage index, a multi-objective optimisation methodology is proposed to minimise the structural weight and the damage index. The method utilises explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis as the structural analysis method and NSGA-II optimisation algorithm as the optimisation technique. At the final point, based on the proposed method a framework is developed, and two numerical examples are studied. Results of this research show that the developed method is effective in achieving optimal designs with desired cost and damage.

Keywords: blast loading; plastic strain; damage index; multi-objective; NSGA-II.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTRUCTE.2019.101436

International Journal of Structural Engineering, 2019 Vol.10 No.1, pp.77 - 94

Received: 30 Nov 2018
Accepted: 23 Apr 2019
Published online: 07 Aug 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article