Optimal design of planar RC frames considering CO2 emissions using ECBO, EVPS and PSO metaheuristic algorithms

Abstract Nowadays reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is considered in the design and construction of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. One of the techniques for minimizing CO2 emissions is the use of optimization techniques at the structural design stage. For optimal design of RC structures, in addition to considering specifications of codes and construction material costs, strategies should also be applied for minimizing CO2 emission in the construction materials production. This study investigates the relationship between optimal cost and optimal carbon dioxide emission in design for RC frames of different heights by using an automatic computational process. The main objective functions are minimizing CO2 emissions and construction cost. For this purpose, three RC frames with four, eight and twelve stories, are modeled and optimized. Results indicate that by applying the optimization process, in buildings with low height the reductions of CO2 emissions are greater than in high-rise buildings. Three metaheuristic algorithms consisting of Enhanced Colliding Bodies Optimization (ECBO), Enhanced Vibrating Particles System (EVPS) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have been used to solve the examples. A comparison of the performance of these algorithms shows that in optimization of RC structures, which has many design variables and a large search space, the ECBO algorithm has higher search capability and results in better solutions than EVPS and PSO algorithms.