Design Optimisation for Cable Dome Structures Based on Progressive Collapse Resistance

This study proposed a framework of optimal design for flexible cable dome structures based on progressive collapse resistance. First, a quantitative evaluation method for nonlinear robustness based on robustness control theory to reflect the structural progressive collapse resistance was proposed. Second, an actual engineering structure was used as a case study to evaluate the effects of design parameters on structural robustness. Finally, a genetic algorithm was used as an optimisation algorithm to further optimise the element cross-section and the structural shape and obtain a combined optimisation rate. The results indicated that increasing the element cross-sectional area, decreasing the structural span, and increasing the rise-to-span ratio effectively improved the structural robustness. The structural robustness was also effectively improved through the optimal design of element cross-sections by increasing element cross-sections sensitive to structural robustness and decreasing those insensitive to structural robustness. In this study, the combined optimisation rate was 38.27%, which was not only greater than the individual optimisation rates of 11.2% for element cross-sectional area optimisation and 22.5% for structural shape optimisation but also the sum of these two rates.

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