Optimization of Large Space Frame Steel Structures

Optimization of large space frame steel structures subjected to realistic code-specified stress, displacement, and buckling constraints is investigated. The basis of design is the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Allowable Stress Design (ASD) specifications. The types of structures considered are space moment resisting frames with and without bracings. The structures are subjected to wind loadings according to the Uniform Building Code (UBC) in addition to dead and live loads. The parallel-vector algorithm developed in this research is applied to three highrise building structures ranging in size from a 20-story structure with 1,920 members to a 60-story structure with 5,760 members, and its parallel processing and vectorization performance is evaluated. For the largest structure, speedups of 6.4 and 17.8 are achieved due to parallel processing (using eight processors) and vectorization, respectively. When vectorization is combined with parallel processing a very significant speedup of 97.1 is achieved.