Structural Layout Optimization of Tall Buildings Against Wind Load

Nowadays, tall buildings are playing an important role in fulfilling the increasing demand for housing in urban cities. The design process of tall buildings is quite complex, and it requires continuous collaboration between different engineering fields and architects to satisfy the target functionality at a suitable cost. Since tall buildings are sensitive to lateral loads, a change in their layout, size, or shape will affect their cost and behaviour. In this paper, a case study for topology optimization is presented to find the optimal lateral resisting system layout against dynamic wind load for tall buildings, by altering the configuration of shear wall segments. First, an automated finite element (FE) model is adopted to assess the structural performance against static wind loads provided by the National Building Code of Canada. These models are integrated with a genetic algorithm, in order to identify the optimal configuration of the structural system. A comparison is held between dynamic time history wind loads and equivalent static wind loads to investigate the effect of including dynamic loads within the optimization framework. This study demonstrates the potential capability of topology optimization in tall buildings, which can increase the wind performance of the tall building, while reducing the overall cost of the structure within predefined architectural and structural constraints.