Author(s)

J. V. Martí, J. Alcalá, T. García-Segura, V. Yepes

Abstract

This paper proposes simulated annealing and threshold accepting procedures for the automatic design of two different bridge types. Both cases are prestressed concrete road bridge decks typically used in public road construction. Simulated annealing is first applied to a precast beam of 30–30 meters of longitudinal spans and 12.00 m of width. The beam has a double U-shape cross-section and a beam spacing of 6 m. This problem involves 59 discrete design variables for the geometry of the beam and the slab, concrete grade, reinforcing steel and prestressing steel. The simulated annealing method indicates savings of about 5% with respect to a traditional design. The second bridge case is a 20–36–20 m posttensioned cast-in-place concrete slab road bridge deck. This example needs 33 discrete variables to define the complete structure. The threshold accepting method is used for the optimization. Our findings indicate savings of about 7.5% with respect to the design based on experience. Finally, the results show that heuristic optimization provides other options to reduce the design costs of real prestressed bridge decks.

Keywords

precast-prestressed concrete, post-tensioned cast-in-place, U-shape cross-section, slab deck, heuristic optimization