A HYBRID TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION APPROACH TO FORCE VISUALIZATION IN REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES
Palavras-chave:
Topology optimization, Hybrid formulation, Strut-and-tie model, Reinforced concreteResumo
The Strut-and-Tie Method is a rational approach used to circumvent complexities in the
analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures, especially those that do not meet the Bernoulli’s
hypothesis. This work applies topology optimization techniques to automatically obtain power paths in
reinforced concrete structures to be applied in strut-and-tie models. A hybrid formulation of the
minimum compliance problem is adopted in which the concrete struts are represented by continuous
elements associated with material density and steel reinforcing bars. Bilinear isotropic elastic models
are applied to both materials to separate compressive and tensile load paths. In order to eliminate
resultant thin bars and provide a force layout applicable in the design practice, a maximum filter is
applied at the end of the optimization process. Tikhonov regularization is applied to the potential energy
of the structure to solve singular equilibrium equations and check the equilibrium of the extracted
solutions in the filtering procedure. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the applicability
of the proposed formulation.
