GA based design automation and optimization of earthquake resisting CFS structures in a BIM environment

The trend in systemization and automation of the design process in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is relatively slow because of the diversity of partners, the specificity of each project and the iterative nature of the design. Cold-formed steel structures which are widely used as a construction system, lends itself well to industrialisation. Taking advantage of the building information modelling (BIM) features, this paper, develop an optimization procedure to help automatizing the interface between the architecture and the structural design of this type of framing. The concept relies on using a genetic algorithm to generate optimized shear wall panels (SWP) layouts at each level of an early architectural IFC model of a multi-storey CFS building in BIM environment. The generated layouts fulfil the load bearing continuity through the building height and are in compliance with main earthquake resisting structural criteria as per codes of practice. The performance and the robustness of the algorithm were demonstrated using different CFS prototype buildings. The procedure achieved very promising results and more importantly, the algorithm can accommodate more structural code-based criteria or constructional provisions as constraints or as controlling parameters of the multi-objective function. In practice, the proposed technique can be easily developed and implemented in a BIM platform to assist both the architect and the engineer to design optimized CFS buildings to resist earthquake loading.