Optimisation of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Optimisation of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Slobbe, G.

Nijsse, R. (mentor)
Braam, R. (mentor)
Coenders, J.L. (mentor)
Krijgsman, H.G. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Structural Engineering

Concrete Structures

2015-02-27

The design of reinforcement in concrete structures is a complex procedure, often resulting in inefficient designs. One possible solution to improve the design process and create more efficient designs is structural optimisation. This Master’s Thesis focusses on the development of a technique for optimisation of reinforcement in 3D concrete shapes on costs and structural safety. This optimisation has been achieved by a combination of techniques. An assessment model has been developed to assess options on estimated costs and structural safety. The structural safety is tested with a truss model of the geometry, analysed by the Matrix Displacement Method (MDM), tested with Strut and Tie Models (STM) and assessed by a safety penalisation. Optimisation is achieved with Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO). This nature inspired optimisation technique is capable of creating, selecting and improving a swarm of options during an iterative process. The result of this Master’s Thesis is a tool that can design reinforcement in the shape of truss models in 3D geometries, assess the quality of options and select options based on their costs effectiveness.

Reinforced Concrete
Strut and Tie Model (STM)
Structural optimisation
Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO)
Concrete costs estimation
Matrix Displacement Method (MDM)

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:263afd2e-88d7-4416-a056-e4608ec60122

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Slobbe, G.