A comparative study on optimum design of multi-element truss structures

A Harmony Search (HS) and Genetic Algorithms (GA), two powerful metaheuristic search techniques, are used for minimum weight designs of different truss structures by selecting suitable profile sections from a specified list taken from American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). A computer program is coded in MATLAB interacting with SAP2000-OAPI to obtain solution of design problems. The stress constraints according to AISC-ASD (Allowable Stress Design) and displacement constraints are considered for optimum designs. Three different truss structures such as bridge, dome and tower structures taken from literature are designed and the results are compared with the ones available in literature. The results obtained from the solutions for truss structures show that optimum designs by these techniques are very similar to the literature results and HS method usually provides more economical solutions in multi-element truss problems.