The Minimum Weight Design of Multi-Story Building Frames Based upon the Axial Force-Bending Moment Interaction Yield Condition

Abstract

Since Foulkes’ pioneering work [1] in 1953, the problem of the linear minimum weight plastic design of plane frames for building structures consisting of uniform members has been investigated only on the basis of the yield condition in terms of bending moment alone. While several available numerical methods [2] for the Foulkes problem may be convenient for taking into account various constraints due to architectural and structural requirements, the crucial demerits are firstly that a great number of mostly inactive constraints must all be taken into account for a general formulation, and secondly that several or some finite number of numerical solutions would neither clarify the general intrinsic features of the minimum weight designs nor reveal inherent demerits of the theory.