MINIMUM COST DESIGN OF REINFORCED-CONCRETE STRUCTURES

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the traditional design process can be imitated mathematically to arrive at designs of reinforced concrete structures which conform to the requirement of the new Australian Standard AS3600-1988 and are the least expensive to construct. The total cost includes the costs of concrete, reinforcing steel and formwork. The minimum cost problem is formulated as a non-linear programming problem whose solution is attempted by two techniques. Several numerical examples of multi-span beams and of columns are given using a computer package developed in standard FORTRAN 77. The sensitivity of the minimum cost designs to variations in the relative cost of formwork is also studied. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.