Minimum cost design of welded tubular frames for a special truck

An optimum design procedure is worked out in the case of a simple one-bay one-story rectangular frame welded from rectangular or square hollow sections (RHS or SHS). Optimum dimensions of profiles for the columns and beamare calculated to minimize a cost function and to fulfill design constraints. The cost function includes the costs of material, welding and painting. Design constraints on static stress, flexural and local buckling as well as fatigue stress range are taken into account. The optimization is performed using British (UK) and South African (SA) cost data and profile series. Four structural versions are optimized and compared as follows: for columns and beam (a) the same rectangular hollow section (RHS) profile, (b) two different RHS profiles, (c) the same square hollow section (SHS) profile, (d) two different SHS profiles.