Weight minimum design of concrete beam strengthened with glass fiber reinforced polymer bar using genetic algorithm

This paper presents a generalized formulation for optimizing the design of concrete beam reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer bar. The optimization method is formulated to find the design variables leading to the minimum weight of concrete beam with constraints imposed based on ACI code provisions. A simple genetic algorithm is utilized to solve the optimization task. The weights of concrete and glass fiber reinforced polymer bar are included in the formulation of the objective function. The ultimate limit states and the serviceability limit states are included in formulation of constraints. The results of illustrated example demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method to reduce the weight of beam as well as to satisfy the above requirement. The application of the optimization based on the most economical design concept have led to significant savings in the amount of the component materials to be used in comparison to classical design solutions.