DETAILED DESIGN OF REINFORCED-CONCRETE BUILDINGS USING LOGIC PROGRAMMING

A procedure is proposed leading to an optimal detailed design of reinf orced concrete members. The general scheme followed is that of a multi -criterion design optimization. The method synthesizes the information from the cross-sectional level, to the member level and finally, to a group of members where the detailed design of the whole group is deci ded. At the cross-sectional level, the required reinforcement in cm(2) is converted into reinforcing bars of all possible diameters. At the member and/or group of members level, a number of lists that contain d ifferent design scenarios are generated. The method of objective weigh ting is applied to a multi-criterion objective function, which represe nts a compromise of the 'minimum weight', 'maximum uniformity' and 'mi nimum number of reinforcing bars' criteria. By varying the weighting f actors, it is possible to generate the Pareto optimal set of the probl em. The performance of the system is illustrated with a number of exam ples. The same building is designed using different weighting factors in the multi-criterion objective. The variation of the detailed design s is discussed and certain values for the weighting factors are recomm ended. Copyright (C) 1996 Civil-Comp Limited and Elsevier Science Limi ted.