Embodied Carbon Minimization for Single-Story Steel Gable Frames

As the construction industry, especially steel construction, contributes to a large portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable structural design has become a necessity to achieve the world vision of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. As steel portal frames are the most used structural system for single-story buildings, the main objective of this study is to determine the optimal steel portal frame configuration using prismatic and/or non-prismatic members to achieve the least embodied carbon. Five different portal frame configurations are considered under the effect of five distinct loading conditions. The results led to developing design charts consisting of contour plots showing the embodied carbon per unit of volume enclosed by the steel frame for different frame configurations, loading conditions, span lengths, and column heights. In addition, by increasing the number of member divisions, design variables, and non-prismatic segments, the average embodied carbon of the steel portal frames can be significantly reduced by about 14.34% up to 26.47% relative to the configuration with only prismatic members.

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