A Metaheuristic-Based Methodology to Minimize the Concentration of Lateral Displacements in Low-Rise Steel Concentrically Braced Frames Subjected to Seismic Loading

This paper proposes a new methodology to evaluate the seismic performance of multi-storey Concentrically Braced Frames (CBFs) and to minimize the concentration of frame nonlinear lateral displacements. A three-storey concentrically braced frame with chevron bracing is first selected. An optimization tool is then developed to study drift concentration under seismic loading. This tool leverages a fully parametric design script interacting with the OpenSees programme to generate a large number of potential frame designs analysed under ground motion accelerations and to iteratively update the frame design using the PSO algorithm until minimum drift concentration is achieved. Preliminary results of the proposed methodology and future direction of the research are finally presented.