Steel shuttering optimum geometry in construction stage for steel- concrete composite slabs
Palavras-chave:
Steel formwork, Steel formwork geometry, Optimization, Effective Width MethodResumo
The use of profiled steel sheeting in steel-concrete composite slabs stands out for its economic and
environmental advantages, since they are easy to install, fast in construction and reduce material waste. However,
this system is still little used in Brazil and one of the reasons may be associated with the restricted supply of steel
formwork geometries available in the national market. Therefore, this article determines the optimal structural
solution for steel shuttering geometry of composite slabs focused on the construction phase, considering the
minimization of steel consumption in the manufacturing process. The steel formwork design was performed by
applying the Effective Width Method (EWM), which is a traditional and analytical method present in several
optimization studies of cold formed steel structures. Finally, the optimization process was performed by Particle
Swarm Optimization (PSO) in the software MATLAB®. In addition, four different commercial geometries will
be analyzed at this stage in order to contribute to the development of new market models of shapes. The solution
reduced steel consumption by 34.65% on average for formwork with intermediate stiffeners and 26.16% for
sections without stiffeners.
