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Parametric Modelling of Concrete Structures with Optimization Methods

The planning and construction of roads and bridges are important aspects of infrastructure construction projects. Currently, road and bridge models are usually generated using completely different modeling programs. However, bridges are part of the road, so the geometry of the bridges significantly depends on the course of the carriageway, i.e. the main axis. Small changes in road design often occur in the design/planning process. When a regular computer-aided design (CAD) program is used to create a bridge model, these modifications result in tedious and time-consuming adaptations of the bridge geometry. The use of parametric CAD technology, which allows unambiguous modeling of relationships between geometric objects, means that the bridge model can be connected to the roadway axis, enabling quick and automatic updating whenever the road design is modified. At the same time, the parametric description allows advanced modeling of the bridge itself, especially with the changing cross-section along the axis. To further aid the design of bridges, it is desirable to provide ways and means to exchange parametric bridge models between different programs. In this way, it will allow to communicate the concept of the project, and thus - to accelerate the study of individual changes. In particular, this applies to the integration of structural analysis programs into the bridge design process. An even bigger problem is the modeling of prestressed concrete bridge structures where, apart from variants of the geometry of the structure itself, the designer must consider possible configurations of prestressing cable routes, which is often a difficult task. The design of the tendon route is a very important part of the engineering analysis of prestressed concrete structures. Typically, such a route is built point-to-point based on specific coordinates (supplied by the user) and mathematically modeled using straight lines or curved (parabolic) elements. The number of these points depends on the number of supports located along the considered structure. Generally speaking, such a route can be traced using a fixed 3D curve that must match the relevant geometrical and mechanical requirements, for example, it must be within the current cross-section (which may vary along the structure), and must also satisfy the prestressing assumptions, namely the reaction of the prestressed concrete structure must neutralize the reactions of other structural and dynamic loads applied to the structure (mainly the "dead" load, which is the weight of the structure itself). In most cases, the user's task is to determine such a route using engineering intuition and observe its effect on the static and/or dynamic response of the structure. The main purpose of these studies is to develop an original calculation methodology that allows the design of the tendon route in a more or less automatic manner, depending on the relevant design requirements. This methodology is based on a combination of genetic algorithms (AG) / finite element method (FEM).

Document Details

ReferenceNWC23-0338-extendedabstract
AuthorsJarno. L
LanguageEnglish
TypeExtended Abstract
Date 18th May 2023
OrganisationJD Engineering
RegionGlobal

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