Multi-Objective Optimization Applied to the Design of Sustainable Pedestrian Bridges

Fernando Luiz Tres Junior, Víctor Yepes, Guilherme Fleith de Medeiros and Moacir Kripka ()
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Fernando Luiz Tres Junior: Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering (PPGEng), University of Passo Fundo, Km 292, BR 285, Passo Fundo 99052-900, RS, Brazil
Víctor Yepes: Institute of Concrete Science and Technology (ICITECH), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Guilherme Fleith de Medeiros: Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering (PPGEng), University of Passo Fundo, Km 292, BR 285, Passo Fundo 99052-900, RS, Brazil
Moacir Kripka: Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering (PPGEng), University of Passo Fundo, Km 292, BR 285, Passo Fundo 99052-900, RS, Brazil

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The demand for more sustainable structures has been shown as a growing tendency, and engineers can use optimization techniques to aid in the design and sizing stage, achieving solutions that minimize its cost and environmental and social impacts. In pedestrian bridges, which are subjected to human-induced vibrations, it is also important to ensure the users’ comfort, besides the security verifications. In this context, the objective of this paper is to perform a multi-objective optimization of a steel-concrete composite pedestrian bridge, minimizing cost, carbon dioxide emissions, and vertical acceleration caused by human walking. For this, the Multi-Objective Harmony Search (MOHS) was applied to obtain non-dominated solutions and compose a Pareto Front. Two scenarios were considered with different unit emissions obtained from a life cycle assessment in the literature. Results show that by increasing 15% the structure cost, the vertical acceleration is reduced from 2.5 to 1.0 m/s 2 . For both scenarios, the optimal ratio for the web height and total span ( L e ) lies between L e /20 and L e /16. The web height, the concrete strength, and the slab thickness were the design variables with more influence on the value of the vertical acceleration. The Pareto-optimal solutions were considerably sensitive to the parameters varied in each scenario, changing concrete consumption and dimensions of the welded steel I-beam, evidencing the importance of carrying out a sensitivity analysis in optimization problems.

Keywords: multi-objective optimization; pedestrian bridge; sustainability; harmony search; carbon emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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