Potential of Parametric Modeling for Structural Optimization A Variant Study of Industrial Buildings with Different Timber Structure Systems

Abstract

Global warming and global scarcity of resources drive the need for optimization of industrial buildings. The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive economic sectors and at the same time belongs to most of the man-made raw material storage. To contribute to a resource-efficient future in the construction sector, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) of the supporting structures can be created within the framework of the planning phase in which numerous case-studies are carried out. Due to the uniqueness of each construction project and the complex technical model data input, very few case-studies can be carried out in the phase of conservative planning. On this occasion, a generative tool for the parametric optimization of industrial timber-specific supporting structures has been created within the scope of this paper. A novel optimization approach used in this work represents the concept of MOO based on the parametric structural modelling. Due to the above-mentioned aspects, the developed tool has been named "MOPTS" (Multi-objective optimization of timber structures). As part of the research presented in this paper, a test case was carried out on an already built-up object. It was demonstrated that by MOPTS tool assisted structural planning almost 5 tons of timber material were saved also by using fewer bearing elements.