Teaching Learning Based Optimum Design of Transmission Tower Structures

Abstract

Teaching learning based optimization method is one of the relatively new metaheuristic search techniques. This method is highly powerful for optimum weight design of multi-element truss structures. In this study, minimum weight designs of three different problems such as a 47-element plane transmission tower, 72 and 244-element space transmission towers taken from the literature are carried out by determining suitable cross sections from a prepared list from American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) profiles. A computer code is developed in MATLAB interacting with SAP2000 Open Application Programming Interface (OAPI) to obtain optimum solutions. While predetermined values are used as stress constraints in the first two problems (47- and 72-element truss towers), the stress constraints are taken from AISC-ASD (Allowable Stress Design) specifications in the third problem (244-element truss tower). The optimum weights obtained from the analyses are compared with the results available in literature carried out with different algorithm methods. The results prove that the new algorithm technique is quite successful for optimum design of multi-element structural problems.