The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems

Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China

INTEGRATED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF TRANSFER PLATE
FOR TALL BUILDING STRUCTURES

Lam Siu, Kelvin
1
, Zou, Xiao Kang
2
, Wong, Kong Loi
3

1
Building Engineering (Structural), AECOM Asia Co. Ltd, Hong Kong
* Corresponding author: kelvin.lam@aecom.com
2, 3
Building Engineering (Structural), AECOM Asia Co. Ltd, Hong Kong

Abstract
This paper describes an integrated optimization technique by combining topology optimization and size
optimization for the transfer plate design of tall building structures. The suitable locations and
dimensions of the openings in the transfer plate can be predicted by topology optimization, while a set
of the optimal thickness solutions and corresponding steel ratios can be obtained by size optimization.
A study example has been used to optimize the transfer plate by applying the integrated optimization.

Keyword: Size Optimization, Topology Optimization, Transfer Plate, Tall Building, Concrete
1. Introduction
Structural optimization has traditional applied in the field of mechanical and aeronautical engineering,
in recently, progressively application in structural engineering. There are several examples apply to the
high-rise building design [1, 2]; all of them are mainly forced on the entire structural system of the
building. Despite a variety of applications in structural engineering field, the focus of this work is
forced on the optimal design of transfer system in the high-rise building especially in Hong Kong
region.
Currently, tall buildings with multi-functional usages become a common trend. Transfer floor is
the major component for entire building to allocate change of locations for vertical structural elements
due to the need to allow open-layout underneath transfer structure. There are several structural systems
to transfer the loading, in forms of beam, plate, truss and box. Mostly, transfer plate system is the most
common practical structural form adopted in tall buildings for Hong Kong region.
However, in order to transfer the entire loading from the upper floor vertical element to lower
columns or walls, a thick reinforced concrete plate is commonly adopted in construction, which is
usually very large and heavy in weight, sometime it is quiet difficult and time-consuming to construct.
The depth of transfer plate is commonly defined under a preliminary estimation under engineering
judgment, structure efficiency of the transfer plate stills not fully utilized in normal.
With diminishing material and increasing the economic competition, the need for efficient and
lightweight structure is becoming challenge in structure engineer point of view. These motivate the
design engineers to reconsider the transitionally adopted design procedures. By using the optimization
methods which become feasible in the design nowadays, the engineers can develop the system from
conceptual design to the final sizing of the member though the optimization processes.




The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
In this paper, a fully integrated optimization design procedure is applied to find optimum
geometric designs of the reinforced concrete transfer plate complying with the practical design
conditions. To achieve this task, objective function and several design constraints are used to quantified,
such as the weight of the structure, the stress in the plate. For the parameter that governs the geometry
and thickness of the plate were used as variables, such as the minimum and maximum thickness of the
plate and several parameters of boundary conditions.
2. Optimization design problem
2.1 Main design optimization procedure
The main design optimization consists of five steps, as shown as the flow chat in Figure 1.
I. Study the building structural finite element model, such as ETABS. The existing geometry and
load conditions can be applied in the program to evaluate the initial thickness, and its upper
bound limits.
II. Transfer the model into optimization software, such as HyperWork, to do the optimization
analysis processes.
III. Conduct the topology optimization to searching the distribution of material and to identify the
potential locations and size of openings.
IV. Process the size optimization after located the openings, an optimizing thickness based on
different steel ratio will be obtained.
V. Output a set of optimal solutions including the optimal transfer plate thickness and corresponding
reinforcement ratio will be used to back-calculate the amount of steel and concrete used. The
optimal solution can be identified by apply a corresponding cost function which including
material and construction cost.

















Figure 1 Flow chat of optimization process

Study building structural finite
element analysis model
Define transfer plate optimization
model
Topology optimization
Size optimization
Output
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
2.2 Topology optimization
Topology optimization is commonly used as an innovative and powerful tool in the design of the
structures. The method is by formulated a theoretical and numerical procedure to find the optimal
layout by redistributing the material in a fix defined domain. The problem is defined as finding the
stiffest possible structure when a certain amount of material a given. A structure with maximum global
stiffness provides a minimum for the strain energy. Therefore, the topology optimization problem can
be formulated as:
Minimize (1)
subject to ( (2)

Equation (1) defines the design objective function where is the strain energy, where donates
the strains; is the entire volume of element ; is the constitutive matrix of element and is
number of finite elements in the discretized domain. Equation (2) defines the strength constraints where
is the average stresses of th strips; is the upper bound of the average axial stresses of th
strips; is the total number of strips in transfer plate.
By considering structural topology optimization as a material distribution problem, the structure
can be described by a discrete function , defined at each point as
(3)
By assuming isotropy for the solid element, the constitutive matrix at a typical point can be
written as
(4)
where is the elasticity matrix of the solid material.
2.3 Size optimization
The sizing optimization technique is based on the optimization of variation of thickness throughout the
plate; the design variable is the plate thickness of various regions within the plates. Both finite element
analysis and the sensitivity analysis are conducted to evacuate the objective function and the
constraints and associated derivative with respect to each design variable.
The optimal thickness of transfer plate is depend by a series of factors such as the location of
concentrated loads, the location of the support columns and the electrical and mechanical openings
though the plate , the existence of free edge boundary condition and the global behavior of entire
structure. Those factors are strongly depended on the structure form of entire structure due to the
change of deflection variation thickness. In this paper, it mainly emphasize on the optimization of the
thickness of transfer plate, details analysis of the entire structural behavior will be done later. Therefore,
main objective in the design would be finding an optimal thickness of transfer plate, considering the
specified loadings, geometry layout of the structure and properties of the material, satisfies the
following design conditions:
I. Stresses enclosed with an interval in both direction of the plate.
II. Displacement enclosed with an interval in entire plate.
III. Boundary condition satisfied for all load configurations.
IV. A final shape that meets the practical design criteria.
The aim of the optimal structural design is to obtain a design, a set of design variable, which
minimizes an objective function and complies with the constraints that depend on the variables. The
design variables of transfer plate are the thickness of elements and the structural geometry parameters.
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
The objection function is minimizing the volume of the plate. The constraints are the limit normal
stress and shear stress of the plate and the deflection of the plate.
The size optimum design problem is formulated as follows:
Minimize (5)
subject to (6)
(7)
(8)
Equation (5) defines the design objective function where represents the volume of transfer plate,
where the vectors are the design variables of the depth of transfer plate in each strips; is the
surface area of each strips. Equations (6) and (7) define the strength constraints where is the
average axial stresses of th strips; is the upper bound of the average axial stresses of th
strips; is the average shear stresses of th strips; is the upper bound of the average shear
stresses of th strips. Equation (8) defines the deflection constraint of transfer plate, where is the
deflection of th strips; and are the lower and upper bound of the deflection of th strips. is
the total number of design variables; is the total number of strips in transfer plate.
This problem is solved by mathematical programming using the optimization module in Altair
HyperWork [3], which is an integrated analysis and optimization tool for structures analysis. Based on
the assumption of plane section remain plan, the behavior of the reinforced concrete material can be
equivalent to an equivalence effective stress for the analysis, as shown in Figure. 2


(a) Equivalent rectangular stress block (b) Equivalent effective stress
Figure 2 Stress block and equivalent effective stress

The equivalent effective stress can be defined based on following equilibrium equation by
assuming no compression bars provided which reference to the HK code 2004 [4]:



h/2

'
'
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
where is the characteristic strength of the concrete; is the total height of the plate; is the
depth of simplified stress block; is the reinforcement tension force; is the concrete
compression force; is the total amount of tension steel; is the strip width of the plate; is
characteristic yield stress of the steel and is equivalent effective stress.
3. Illustrative example
3.1 Topology optimization
In the transfer plate design, there is a need to have openings for electricity and mechanical drainage
services passing through the plate vertically. However, feasible location of the void mostly determined
by previous engineering experience, which has less scientific based behind. By using the topology
optimization technique, it tries to give an insight of the best location for openings under specified
geometry of the structure layout. In this example, as transfer plate with covers a surface of 20 m30 m
is used. Youngs module of the material is 26.4 GPa for C45 concrete and Poissons modules is 0.2.
The structure is subjected to twenty superstructure columns each have a vertical load of 20000 kN and
bottom moment of 5000 kN-m in x and y direction, a uniform distribution load of 8 kN/m
2
, and it is
supported by four support columns and a lift core wall, as shown in Figure 3 and 4.




(b) Elevation view of transfer plate floor

(a) 3-D model of the building stucture (c) 3-D view of transfer plate floor
Figure 3 Building structure model and transfer plate model

Location of
transfer plate
Lift core wall
Transfer plate
Support column
Superstructure column
Lift core wall
Superstructure
column
Support column
Transfer plate
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China


Figure 4 Topology optimization model of transfer plate



Figure 5 Density distribution contour of transfer plate after topology optimization

From the topology analysis, red region is the max density region and blue region is
the lowest density region . Based on the result, the openings can be located at the region of blue
color where has no significant impact of the total stability of transfer plate, referring to Figure 5. Based
on the results, two openings with dimension 2.5m (length) X 1.5m (width) located near the core wall of
the structure is determined, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Dimensions and location of the voids of transfer plate from topology optimization results
Lift core wall
Support column
Superstructure column
Transfer plate
30m
20m
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
3.2 Size optimization
The case of size optimization of a transfer plate is studied. As the total thickness of plate is depended
on the amount of steel provided within the plate, the larger amount of steel used, the smaller the
thickness of plate can sustained under the same condition of loadings. Under this example, the initial
thickness of transfer plate is set to be 3000 mm and the definition of material properties and load case
are the same as previous one used in topology optimization analysis, the 3-D geometry of the model
used in size optimization is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Size optimization model of transfer plate

Six cases studies with different amount of steel ratios have been conducted to obtain the
minimum thickness of transfer plate, which are defined in Table 1.

Table 1 Initial and optimal results

Steel ratio (%) Initial thickness Optimal thickness and stress
Case
1 (mm)
hopt(mm)
(N/mm
2
) (N/mm
2
)
1 1.2 3000 3000 25.35 25.40
2 1.4 3000 2768 28.91 28.97
3 1.6 3000 2600 32.34 32.34
4 1.8 3000 2480 35.5 35.53
5 2.0 3000 2380 38.52 38.53
6 2.26 3000 2273 42.13 42.15
where is the initial thickness of plate; h
opt
is the optimal thickness of plate; is the actual
average stresses per strip and is the limit average stress per strip.

Case 4 is selected to compare the difference between the optimal and initial results of deflection,
axial stresses and shear stresses. It indicates that the optimal values are larger than initial values, the
optimal results in deflection and shear stresses are satisfied all the constraints conditions, and the axial
stresses is active during the analysis process, the contour of deflection, axial stresses and shear stresses
are shown in Figures 8,9,10.
30m
20m
3m
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China

(a) Initial deflection contour (b) Optimal deflection contour
Figure 8 Initial and optimal deflections for Case 4

(a) Initial axial stresses contour (b) Optimal axial stresses contour
Figure 9 Initial and optimal axial stress contours for Case 4

(a) Intial shear stresses contour (b) Optimal shear stresses contour
Figure 10 Initial and optimal shear stress contours for Case 4

The optimization histories of the previous cases have been shown in Figure 11, which are used to
measure the efficiencies of the optimization analysis. It is found that all the cases had been coverage
within two interactions. It indicates that the optimization methodology developed is very efficient to
this design problem. However, Case 1 reaches the optimization result only one design cycle which due
to the fact that the design variable (i.e thickness of transfer plate) reaches the lower bound constraint of
the thickness of transfer plate.

The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China

Figure 11 Optimization histories of the cases
After comparing the relationship between the steel ratio with the optimal thickness of concrete
transfer plate, the relationship between the weight of steel and the weight of concrete is plotted, as
shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12 Comparison between amount of steel and the volume of concrete
Based on the analysis result, the weight of concrete is inversely proportional to the weight of the
total amount of steel used. A feasible design option are be located by defining the cost objective
function which included the material cost and certain percentage of construction cost.
4. Conclusions
The integrated optimization technique developed can be applied to the transfer plate design of tall
building structures by the combination of topology optimization and size optimization. The suitable
locations and dimensions of openings can be predicted by topology optimization, while a set of the
optimal thickness solutions and corresponding steel reinforcements can be obtained by size
optimization. Feasible design solutions can be specified by the adequate cost function in the design.
The study results demonstrate that the technique can produce a set of optimal solutions which satisfy
all the design constraints and match engineers experiences. Further effort will be made to consider
more design conditions and constraints to improve the current integrated optimization of transfer plate
for tall building structures.
Case 1
Case 3
Case 4
Case 6
Case 2
Case 5
The Seventh China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium on Optimization of Structural and Mechanical Systems
Huangshan, June, 18-21, 2012, China
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Mr. Lee, Hoi Yuen and Mr. Ng, Tim Yeung, Sammy of the Building
Engineering Group, AECOM Asia Company Ltd for their insightful suggestions and support. Also we
would like to thank the Building Engineering Group, AECOM Asia Company Ltd for providing
research funding.
References
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Buildings Subjected to Response Spectrum and Time History Loadings. Computers and
Structures, 2005, 83: 1689-1704.
2. Stromberg LL, Beghini A, Baker WF, Paulino GH. Application of layout and topology
optimization using pattern gradation for the conceptual design of buildings. Struct Multidisc Optim
2011;43(2): 165-80.
3. HyperWork, Altair Engineering, Inc.
4. The Code of Practice for Structural Use of Concrete 2004 (Second Edition). Building Department,
the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, August 2008.