Optimum Seismic Design of 3D Irregular Steel Frames Using Recently Developed Metaheuristic Algorithms

Abstract

The present study is concerned with optimal design of steel frames under seismic loads based on response spectra. Four metaheuristic algorithms, consisting of colliding-bodies optimization (CBO), enhanced colliding-bodies optimization (ECBO), vibrating particles system (VPS), and a hybrid algorithm based on VPS, multidesign variable configurations (MDVC) cascade optimization, and upper-bound strategy (UBS), are used in order to perform the optimal design of three-dimensional (3D) irregular steel frames. Frame members are chosen from an available set of steel sections for producing practically acceptable designs according to a current design standard. The numerical results of the investigated design examples illustrate the advantages of the hybrid algorithm (MDVC-UVPS) in terms of the optimality of the final solution and the speed of convergence.