Optimal Design of Plane Frames

This paper presents an application of state space optimization techniques to the optimal design of plane steel frames. AISC Code requirements are imposed, along with displacement, natural frequency, and member size constraints. A general structural design problem is defined and is then specialized to the case of plane frames. Results for three example problems are obtained with a computer program developed for the purpose. Results are compared with solutions available in the literature. New results are presented for cases in which multiple failure modes are imposed on the structure.