Optimization of Prefabricated Reinforced Concrete T-beams Through a Two-Stage GA Algorithm

As an important part of the construction industry, bridge construction consumes a large amount of energy and materials. This study proposes a bridge structure optimization framework using a two-stage genetic algorithm (GA) in order to minimize the steel and concrete of prefabricated reinforcement concrete T-beams (RC T-beams). Under the constraints of corresponding design specifications, the first stage of the proposed GA is utilized to optimize the section size and area of the vertically-pulled steel of T-beam, with material cost as the optimization objective. Then the optimal combination of rebar diameters can be obtained by the second stage of the proposed GA. In the end, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework and compares the proposed framework with conventional approaches.