Multiobjective Evolutionary Design of Steel Structures in Tall Buildings

This paper presents initial results of a study on the application of evolutionary multiobjective optimization methods in the design of the steel structural systems of tall buildings. In the paper, a brief overview of the state-of-the-art in evolutionary multi-objective optimization in structural engineering is provided. Next, conceptual design of steel structural systems in tall buildings is overviewed and the representations of steel structural systems used in the paper are discussed. Furthermore, Emergent Designer, a unique evolutionary design tool developed at George Mason University, is briefly described. It is an integrated research and design support tool which applies models of complex adaptive systems to represent engineering systems and to analyze design processes and their results. The paper also presents the results of several multi-objective structural design experiments conducted with Emergent Designer in which steel structural systems in tall buildings were optimized with respect to their total weight and maximum deflection (two-objective minimization problem). The goal of these experiments was to determine feasibility of evolutionary multi-objective optimization of steel structural systems of tall buildings as well as to qualitatively and quantitatively compare the results with the previous findings obtained with single-objective evolutionary optimization methods. Finally, initial research conclusions are presented as well as promising research directions.