Improving sustainability and safety of the built environment is a major challenge of current European policies. In this regard, topology optimization may represent a powerful design tool for the selection of more suitable structural systems, by maximizing the performance efficiency while minimizing the overall material consumption. The accurate prediction of stochastic responses of structures induced by natural hazards is crucial to achieve reliable and effective designs. Therefore, it is of great significance to incorporate the impact of uncertainties into topology optimization of buildings, especially in the case of large structures. Despite recent technological advances, existing theoretical frameworks for the identification of optimal lateral bracing systems for tall buildings remain inadequate to overcome computational challenges of incorporating stochastic responses to optimization procedures. Thus, this project aims at contributing to the development of theoretical frameworks that integrate the random vibration theory with topology optimization using both fully non-stationary models and single pulse-like near fault records. Furthermore, the project is committed to producing positive socio-economic impacts in the medium- and long-term through the conversion of scientific and technical results into real-world applications, and it is intended to disseminate the benefits of automated techniques in the definition of advanced designs.
The present project will certainly contribute to advance the state of the art in topology optimization through the formulation and elaboration of sophisticated models for the definition of optimal bracing systems in tall buildings under earthquake excitations. Non-stationary stochastic models for the description of the seismic ground motion will contribute to a deeper understanding of the effects of inherent uncertainties in environmental loads during optimization procedures. In addition, the employment of near-fault records will provide a better recognition of the seismic risk on tall buildings close to active faults. In doing so, the project will facilitate the establishment of an active scientific community on the specific topic through synergistic collaboration and will promote the development of reliable and efficient optimization frameworks.
Besides these short-term scientific impacts, advances in topology optimization can produce mid-term social and economic impacts through greater awareness of the environmental and economic benefits that would be attained if design optimization techniques were adopted in structural engineering practice. Clear explanations and real-world applications will contribute to illustrate in numbers and disseminate the enormous advantages of the proposed procedures for the public to fuel structural engineering practitioners¿ curiosity in integrating structural optimization techniques within civil engineering practice. Specially tailored software packages will bring optimization algorithms into the mainstream of structural engineering profession. Particularly, a holistic structural design optimization framework may be a potential transformation for the structural engineering community. Conveyance of the foremost advanced computational tools to applied structural engineering can facilitate transferring innovation from the research laboratory to the market. This will have a substantial impact on international research in structural engineering and presumably act as catalyst for more advancing structural technology and educating future generations of engineers.
By virtue of a reliable and efficient tool for the design of seismically safe tall structures, the project could further contribute to produce long-term social, economic and environmental impacts on urban areas. In this direction, if specific scenarios of material use reduction and optimization technology absorption by the construction industry were carried out, benefits would derive in terms of energy consumption, tons of CO2 emissions and monetary.
The ability to design structures, with fewer restrictions and by taking into consideration all (or as many as possible) factors affecting the design, can result in safer, eco-friendly and more economical structures. Society at large will benefit from the implementation of such tools, not solely concerning safety and economy criteria, but also from an environmental perspective. These oriented and conscious design choices will also contribute to extend the advantages to future generations.