Structural Lay-Out Optimization of Steel Structures

在大型结构设计过程的初始阶段，需要做出一些关键的概念决策，这些决策对材料的使用、碳足迹和施工时间有着显著的影响。对于较小的“典型”结构，经验和经验法则可以用来得出一个有效的解决方案。然而，对于较大的非典型或建筑独特的结构(如体育场、摩天大楼等的大屋顶跨度)，结构布局是否能在满足强度、稳定性、适用性和抗不成比例倒塌的约束条件下获得最佳解决方案并不明显。相反，创新的结构布局解决方案往往有助于创建具有建筑标志性的结构(例如，带有外骨骼的摩天大楼)。该项目旨在利用先进的优化技术来获得钢框架结构配置，并针对多目标目标进行优化。考虑到通常非常大的搜索空间，再加上个别详细结构分析的耗时特性，人工智能算法很可能能够显著促进和加快解决过程，将探索这一选择。作为一个实际成果，该项目旨在提供一个实现所开发算法的面向设计者的工具。

In the initial stages of the design process of large structures a number of key conceptual decisions need to be made,which have a prominent influence on the material use, carbon footprint and construction time. For smaller, 'typical'structures, experience and rules of thumb can be used to arrive at an efficient solution. However, for larger atypical orarchitecturally unique structures (e.g. large roof spans in stadiums, skyscrapers, etc.), it is not at all obvious whichstructural lay-out will result in an optimum solution, while at the same time satisfying the constraints of strength, stability,serviceability and resistance against disproportionate collapse. Conversely, innovative structural lay-out solutions oftencontribute to creating architecturally iconic structures (e.g. skyscrapers with an exoskeleton). The project aims to exploreadvanced optimization techniques to obtain steel-framed structural configurations, optimized against a multi-objectivetarget. Given the typically very large search space, combined with the time-consuming character of individual detailedstructural analyses, it is likely that Artificial Intelligence algorithms will be able to significantly facilitate and speed up thesolution process, and this option will be explored. As a practical outcome, the project aims to provide a pathway towardsa designer-oriented tool which implements the developed algorithms.