Optimum Design of Pin‐Jointed Steel Structures With Practical Applications

Abstract

An efficient optimum design algorithm is presented for the pin‐jointed steel structures subjected to multiple load cases. The displacement, stress, buckling, and minimum size constraints are considered in the formulation of the design problem. Optimality criteria approach is employed for handing the displacement restrictions. The stress and buckling limitations are reduced to lower bounds on design variables and treated as similar to those of minimum size constraints. This is achieved by first expressing the allowable critical stresses as specified by the design codes as nonlinear equations, and then solving them to obtain the critical values of design variables. This leads to a straightforward and easy‐to‐program algorithm that is particularly suitable for microcomputers. The numerical examples solved, on the other hand, clearly show the practical applicability and efficiency of the method, even in the case of large structures.