Optimisation of Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Web Core Bridge Deck—A Hybrid Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a novel hybrid technique based on D-optimal design and Nelder–Mead simplex algorithm for optimisation of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite web core bridge deck panels. The optimisation is performed to minimise the weight of FRP composite bridge deck panels based on deflection limit, stresses, buckling and failure analysis, and subsequently the representative design curves are developed. Sensitivity analysis is performed to portray the effect of variation in geometry of the bridge deck on its deflection, stress and buckling behaviours.