Optimal Design and Sensitivity of Large Spatial Trusses Under Uncertainty

Abstract

One trend in civil works moves towards higher and higher buildings. But with its height, not only the monumentality and impressiveness rise, but also the sensitivity with respect to applied loads increases, and external influences become more crucial. Because of that, this paper deals with the study of the change of the design and the robustness in dependence of the height of the structures. The basis for our consideration is provided by a spatial n-storey truss which will be increased successively, and which is affected by applied random forces. The recourse problem will be formulated in general and in the standard form of stochastic linear programming (SLP). After the formulation of the stochastic optimization problem, the Recourse Problem based on Discretization (RPD) and the Expected Value Problem (EVP) are introduced as representatives of substitute problems. The resulting (large) linear programs (LP) can be solved efficiently by means of usual LP-solvers. Several numerical results are presented.