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Optimal design of large-scale structures is a rather difficult task and the computational efficiency of the currently available methods needs to be improved. In view of this, the paper presents a modified Charged System Search (CSS) algorithm. The new methodology is based on the combination of CSS and Particle Swarm Optimizer. In addition, in order to improve optimization search, the sequence of tasks entailed by the optimization process is changed so that the updating of the design variables can directly be performed after each movement. In this way, the new method acts as a single-agent algorithm while preserving the positive characteristics of its original multi-agent formulation.

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Earthquake time history records are required to perform dynamic nonlinear analyses. In order to provide a suitable set of such records, they are scaled to match a target spectrum as introduced in the well-known design codes. Corresponding scaling factors are taken similar in practice however, optimizing them reduces extra-ordinary economic charge for the seismic design. In the present work a new hybrid meta-heuristic is developed combining key features from genotypic search and particle swarm optimization. The method is applied to an illustrative example via a parametric study to evaluate its effectiveness and less probability of premature convergence compared with the standard particle swarm optimization.

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Meta-heuristics have already received considerable attention in various fields of engineering optimization problems. Each of them employes some key features best suited for a specific class of problems due to its type of search space and constraints. The present work develops a Pseudo-random Directional Search, PDS, for adaptive combination of such heuristic operators. It utilizes a short term memory via indirect information share between search agents and the directional search inspired by natural swarms. Treated numerical examples illustrate the PDS performance in continuous and discrete design spaces.

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In this paper, an efficient optimization algorithm is proposed based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Simulated Annealing (SA) to optimize truss structures. The proposed algorithm utilizes the PSO for finding high fitness regions in the search space and the SA is used to perform further investigation in these regions. This strategy helps to use of information obtained by swarm in an optimal manner and to direct the agents toward the best regions, resulting in possible reduction of the number of particles. To show the computational advantages of the new PSO-SA method, some benchmark numerical examples are studied. The PSO-SA algorithm converges to better or at least the same solutions, while the number of structural analyses is significantly reduced

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In recent years, the importance of economical considerations in the field of dam engineering has motivated many researchers to propose new methods for minimizing the cost of dames and in particular arch dams. This paper presents a method for shape optimization of double curvature arch dams corresponding to minimum construction cost while satisfying different constraints such as natural frequencies, stability and geometrical limitations. For optimization, the charged system search (CSS) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are employed. To validate the finite element model, a real arch dam is considered as a test example. The results of the present method are compared to those of other optimization algorithms for the selected example from literature.

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A hybrid meta-heuristic optimization method is introduced to efficiently find the optimal shape of concrete gravity dams including dam-water-foundation rock interaction subjected to earthquake loading. The hybrid meta-heuristic optimization method is based on a hybrid of gravitational search algorithm (GSA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), which is called GSA-PSO. The operation of GSA-PSO includes three phases. In the first phase, a preliminary optimization is accomplished using GSA as local search. In the second phase, an optimal initial swarm is produced using the optimum result of GSA. Finally, PSO is employed to find the optimum design using the optimal initial swarm. In order to reduce the computational cost of dam analysis subject to earthquake loading, weighted least squares support vector machine (WLS-SVM) is employed to accurately predict dynamic responses of gravity dams. Numerical results demonstrate the high performance of the hybrid meta-heuristic optimization for optimal shape design of concrete gravity dams. The solutions obtained by GSA-PSO are compared with those of GSA and PSO. It is revealed that GSA-PSO converges to a superior solution compared to GSA and PSO, and has a lower computation cost.

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One primary problem in shape optimization of structures is making a robust link between design model (geometric description) and analysis model. This paper investigates the potential of Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) for solving this problem. The generic framework of shape optimization of structures is presented based on Isogeometric analysis. By discretization of domain via NURBS functions, the analysis model will precisely demonstrate the geometry of structure. In this study Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used for Isogeometric shape optimization. The option of selecting the position and weight of control points as design variables, needless to sensitivity analysis relationships, is the superiority of the proposed method over gradient-based methods. The other advantages of this method are its straightforward implementation

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Different kinds of meta-heuristic algorithms have been recently utilized to overcome the complex nature of optimum design of structures. In this paper, an integrated optimization procedure with the objective of minimizing the self-weight of real size structures is simply performed interfacing SAP2000 and MATLAB® softwares in the form of parallel computing. The meta-heuristic algorithm chosen here is Cuckoo Search (CS) recently developed as a type of population based algorithm inspired by the behavior of some Cuckoo species in combination with the Lévy flight behavior. The CS algorithm performs suitable selection of sections from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) wide-flange (W) shapes list. Strength constraints of the AISC load and resistance factor design specification, geometric limitations and displacement constraints are imposed on frames. Effective time-saving procedure using simple parallel computing, as well as utilizing reliable analysis and design tool are also some new features of the present study. The results show that the proposed method is effective in optimizing practical structures.

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This paper provides a test method to make a fair comparison between different heuristics in structure optimization. When statistical methods are applied to the structural optimization (namely heuristics or meta-heuristics with several tunable parameters and starting seeds), the "one problem - one result" is extremely far from the fair comparison. From statistical point of view, the minimal requirement is a so-called "small-sample" according to the fundamental elements of the theory of the experimental design and evaluation and the protocol used in the drug development processes. The viability and efficiency of the proposed statistically correct methodology is demonstrated using the well-known ten-bar truss on a set of the heuristics from the brutal-force-search up to the most sophisticated hybrid approaches.

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In the present study, the computational performance of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) harmony search (HS) and firefly algorithm (FA), as popular metaheuristics, is investigated for size and shape optimization of truss structures. The PSO was inspired by the social behavior of organisms such as bird flocking. The HS imitates the musical performance process which takes place when a musician searches for a better state of harmony, while the FA was based on the idealized behavior of the flashing characteristics of natural fireflies. These algorithms were inspired from different natural sources and their convergence behavior is focused in this paper. Several benchmark size and shape optimization problems of truss structures are solved using PSO, HS and FA and the results are compared. The numerical results demonstrate the superiority of FA to HS and PSO.

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Based on introducing two optimization algorithms, group search optimization (GSO) algorithm and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, a new hybrid optimization algorithm which named particle swarm-group search optimization (PS-GSO) algorithm is presented and its application to optimal structural design is analyzed. The PS-GSO is used to investigate the spatial truss structures with discrete variables and is tested by truss optimization problems. The optimization results are compared with that of the HPSO and GSO algorithm. The results show that the PS-GSO is able to accelerate the convergence rate effectively and has the fastest convergence rate among these three algorithms. The research shows the proposed PS-GSO algorithm can be effectively applied to optimal design of spatial structures with discrete variables.

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This paper deals with the optimization of reinforced concrete (RC) structures under earthquake loads by introducing a simple methodology. One of the most important problems in the design of RC structures is the existing of various design scenarios that all of them satisfy design constraints. Despite of the steel structures, a large number of design candidates due to a large number of design variables can be utilized. Doubtless, the economical and practical aspects are two effective parameters on accepting a design candidate. As such, in this paper the conventional design process that uses a trial and error process is replaced with an automated process using optimization technique. Also, the cost of construction is selected as an objective function in the automated process. A real valued model of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is utilized to perform the optimization process. Design constraints conform to the ACI318-08 code and standard 2800-code recommendations. Three ground motion records modified based on Iranian Design Spectrum is considered as earthquake excitations. Moreover, to reveal the effectiveness and robustness of the presented methodology, for example, a three-bay eighteen-story RC frame is optimized against the combination of gravity and earthquake loads. The entire process is summarized in a computer programming using a link between MATLAB platform and OpenSEES as open source object-oriented software.

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An efficient method for size and layout optimization of the truss structures is presented in this paper. In order to this, an efficient method by combining an improved discrete particle swarm optimization (IDPSO) and method of moving asymptotes (MMA) is proposed. In the hybrid of IDPSO and MMA, the nodal coordinates defining the layout of the structure are optimized with MMA, and afterwards the results of MMA are used in IDPSO to optimize the cross-section areas. The results show that the hybrid of IDPSO and MMA can effectively accelerate the convergence rate and can quickly reach the optimum design.

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In this paper, a methodology is presented for optimum shape design of double-layer grids subject to gravity and earthquake loadings. The design variables are the number of divisions in two directions, the height between two layers and the cross-sectional areas of the structural elements. The objective function is the weight of the structure and the design constraints are some limitations on stress and slenderness of the elements besides the vertical displacements of the joints. To achieve the optimization task a variant of particle swarm optimization (PSO) entitled as quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm is employed. The computational burden of the optimization process due to performing time history analysis is very high. In order to decrease the optimization time, the radial basis function (RBF) neural networks are employed to predict the desired responses of the structures during the optimization process. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented methodology

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Meta-heuristics have already received considerable attention in various engineering optimization fields. As one of the most rewarding tasks, eigenvalue optimization of truss structures is concerned in this study. In the proposed problem formulation the fundamental eigenvalue is to be maximized for a constant structural weight. The optimum is searched using Particle Swarm Optimization, PSO and its variant PSOPC with Passive Congregation as a recent meta-heuristic. In order to make further improvement an additional hybrid PSO with genetic algorithm is also proposed as PSOGA with the idea of taking benefit of various movement types in the search space. A number of benchmark examples are then treated by the algorithms. Consequently, PSOGA stood superior to the others in effectiveness giving the best results while PSOPC had more efficiency and the least fit ones belonged to the Standard PSO.

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The excavation damaged zone (EDZ) can be defined as a rock zone where the rock properties and conditions have been changed due to the processes related to an excavation. This zone affects the behavior of rock mass surrounding the construction that reduces the stability and safety factor and increase probability of failure of the structure. In this paper, a methodology was examined for computing the creation probability of damaged zone by Latin hypercube sampling based on a feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) optimized by hybrid particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm (HPSOGA). The HPSOGA was carried out to decide the initial weights of the neural network. A case study in a test gallery of the Gotvand dam, Iran was carried out and creation probabilities of 0.191 for highly damaged zone (HDZ) and 0.502 for EDZ were obtained.

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In this study, an approach for damage detection of large-scale structures is developed by employing kinetic and modal strain energies and also Heuristic Particle Swarm Optimization (HPSO) algorithm. Kinetic strain energy is employed to determine the location of structural damages. After determining the suspected damage locations, the severity of damages is obtained based on variations of modal strain energy between the analytical models and the responses measured in damaged models using time history dynamic analysis data. In this paper, damages are modeled as a reduction of elasticity modulus of structural elements. The detection of structural damages is formulated as an unconstrained optimization problem that is solved by HPSO algorithm. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, the results are compared with those provided in previous studies. To demonstrate the ability of this method for detection of multiple structural damages, different types of damage scenarios are considered. The results show that the proposed method can detect the exact locations and the severity of damages with a high accuracy in large-scale structures.

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This paper attempts to improve the computational efficiency of the well known particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for tackling discrete sizing optimization problems of steel frame structures. It is generally known that, in structural design optimization applications, PSO entails enormously time-consuming structural analyses to locate an optimum solution. Hence, in the present study it is attempted to lessen the computational effort of the algorithm, using the so called upper bound strategy (UBS), which is a recently proposed strategy for reducing the total number of structural analyses involved in the course of design optimization. In the UBS, the key issue is to identify those candidate solutions which have no chance to improve the search during the optimum design process. After identifying those non-improving solutions, they are directly excluded from the structural analysis stage, diminishing the total computational cost. The performance of the UBS integrated PSO algorithm (UPSO) is evaluated in discrete sizing optimization of a real scale steel frame to AISC-LRFD specifications. The numerical results demonstrate that the UPSO outperforms the original PSO algorithm in terms of the computational efficiency.

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Dynamic structural responses via time history analysis are highly dependent to characteristics of selected records as the seismic excitation. Ground motion scaling is a well-known solution to reduce such a dependency and increase reliability to the dynamic results. The present work, formulate a twofold problem for optimal spectral matching and performing consequent sizing optimization based on such scaled ground motion via numerical step-by-step analyses. Particle swarm optimization as a widely used meta-heuristic is specialized and improved to solve this problem treating a number of examples. The scaling error is evaluated using both traditional procedure and the developed method. In this regard, some issues are studied including the effect of structural period and shape of the design spectrum on the results. Contribution of the proposed enhancement on the standard particle swarm intelligence has improved its explorative capability resulting in higher efficiency of the algorithm.

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The main aim of the present paper is to propose efficient multi-objective optimization algorithms (MOOAs) to tackle truss structure optimization problems. The proposed meta-heuristic algorithms are based on the firefly algorithm (FA) and bat algorithm (BA), which have been recently developed for single-objective optimization. In order to produce a well distributed Pareto front, some improvements are implemented on the basic algorithms. The proposed MOOAs are examined for three truss optimization problems, and the results are compared to those of some other well-known methods. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed MOOAs possess better computational performance compared to the other algorithms.