Intze Type Water Tank

PARAMETRIC STUDIES ON DESIGN OF WATER
TANKS USING GENETIC ALGORITHM

By
Ms. NITYA PATEL
&
Dr. AKHIL UPADHYAY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I acquire immense pleasure in submitting this dissertation report on Parametric

studies on design of Water Tanks using Genetic Algorithm.
Firstly I be obliged to thank the Almighty GOD who gave me good mind &
efficiency to work on this dissertation. This work could not have been
accomplished without the moral hold up extended towards me by my parents.
A ton thanks to my guide Dr. AkhilUpadhyay, Professor, Structural Engineering

Group, Department of Civil Engineering, I.I.T. Roorkee, for pulling all pieces
collectively and guiding me through the course of action.
I owe heartiest thanks to all my friends whose constructive advice helped me in

shaping this report.
Finally I thank to all those who spent their vital moments working with me & for
encouraging me to make this project blossom.
ABSTRACT
It is the ever-increasing demand of the hour to preserve and store water in the
rapidly expanding world. So water has to be stored and made available as and
when needed. And so is an extreme need for large, efficient and together with it
economic storage and distribution facilities.
A water tank can be defined as a structure that is used for storing water. The
importance of this structure came into being since the civilization shifted away
from rivers, thereby contributing to the same motive of retaining of water for
various streams as drinking, fire suppression, irrigation, agricultural farming, both
for plants and livestock, food preparation, chemical manufacturing, as well as
many other applications. These structures should have good strength and they
should be leak proof. And it is to be strictly inspected that the concrete in these
structures should not crack on the water face and should have high tensile strength
and low porosity.
Regarding the construction of reinforced concrete water storage tanks, there are
innumerable variables that impact the selection and the final cost of system
improvements. The high variance in rainfall and runoff, availability of alternative
water supply with different reliabilities, demand pattern variability, operational
complexity of the system, maintenance requirements, running cost (especially
power cost), affordability and willingness to pay for services, will influence the
decision on whether a specific type of water storage tank should be implemented,
refurbished, replaced, discarded or expanded.
This, demands for various techniques to assist in finding the optimal solution. In
this report, genetic algorithm, a non-traditional method, have been used for the
structural optimization of reinforced concrete intze type water tank and further
parametric study has been carried out.
Structural optimization is a broad interdisciplinary sphere which entails expertise

for coalescing mathematical mastery with engineering and is both intellectually
attractive and technologically rewarding. Structural optimization study for many
structures such as bridge decks, silos, chimneys, transmission towers etc., has
been done and fortifying reverberations have been obtained. Herein, it is
performed on reinforced concrete intze type water tank by using Genetic
Algorithms.
Genetic algorithms have been developed to assist in searching through complex

solution spaces for the optimum solution. So far, GAs have been applied as search
techniques for various engineering problems such as structural design
optimization, hydro-logical runoff predictions, water distribution network
evaluation, resource utilization, and pump scheduling, and in this report, it has
been applied to the engineering design of water tank, specifically reinforced
concrete intze type water tank.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
ALL THE WATER THAT WILL EVER BE, IS RIGHT NOW. So it is an
alarming predicament for retaining water in the present scenario when it is getting
a deficient commodity.
Water retaining structures or rather water storage tanks are an important element
of any distribution system. Water is pumped into the storage tank during the
intervals of low demand and pumped out of the storage tank into the distribution
system during intervals of peak demand.
When specifically contemplating about structures that hold liquids, the most
cardinal ingredient to be taken into discussion is the imperviousness of concrete.
This concrete should precisely be prolific in cement, very well graded and
minutely compacted, so as to attain high tensile strength and low porosity.
Generally, the minimum grade of concrete that is used in the construction of these
structures is M25 and the quantity of cement sweeps between 330 to 530 kg/m.
In the typical structures, main facet of design is structural stability and resistance
against loads. But, the structures designed to hold liquids should be resistant to
perforation and dripping in addition to structural stability, resistance and
sufficient strength against deformation and cracking. Cracking is caused due to
lack of quality control, leading to the leakage and deterioration of concrete. The
main reason therefore for failure of these structures are due to illegitimate
selection of material, mix, placement, compaction, leaking, formwork,
temperature control, curing leading to honeycombed and permeable concrete. The
reinforcement may also undergo corrosion due to honeycombing of concrete and
improper cover of concrete to reinforcement, because of the environmental strikes
that can be due to carbonation, chlorides and sulfate attack. Concrete undergoes
expansion and disruption due to the sulfate attack because of the formation of
calcium sulfo-aluminate. Also a substantial damage may come about if
crystallization of sulfate salts takes place in the pores of concrete. Therefore,
concrete cover for bars becomes a very essential consideration in these structures.
So, designing the liquid retaining structures is more sentient than conventional
structures.
Focusing on cracking of these structures, this may happen due to the reasons
narrated below:
Direct or flexural tension in concrete arising from

Applied external loads
Temperature gradients due to solar radiation
Containment of liquids at temperatures above ambient
may cause cracking.
Temperature and moisture effects

If the dimensional changes due to temperature and moisture changes
are resisted internally or externally
Rising of the temperature for a day or more and dropping back to
ambient during evolution of heat due to cement hydration
may cause cracking.
The risk of cracking due to shrinkage and temperature variation can be minimized
by keeping the concrete moist and filling the tank as soon as possible.
For evaluating the design of any structure, the foremost target should be that its
end-of-life should not be encountered. This may transpire from one of these two
situations, firstly, from the loss of load-bearing capacity or from the second one,
increase in permeability of the concrete so that an unacceptable flow of water can
occur through the structure. The former condition may arise due to concrete
getting deteriorated and the reinforcement losing its strength or undergoing
corrosion. Corrosion damage can be perceived as reduction in cross-sectional area
of the reinforcing bars or in loss of bar anchorage due to surface spalling. Loss of
anchorage in the reinforcing bar means that they are not capable of developing
their useable strength. Increased permeability is suspected to prevail because of
degradation mechanisms due to which the overall integrity of the concrete may
get affected, such as sulfate attack or alkali-aggregate reactivity, or it can also
crop up due to the formation of discrete structural cracks. To be able to predict the
effects of structural cracks on permeability, it is mandatory to understand the
origin and procedure of discrete crack formation in reinforced concrete structures.
The tensile strength of concrete is approximately 10 percent of the compressive

strength, but in the design of reinforced concrete structural elements, this strength
is neglected. Steel reinforcement is provided to carry the tensile stresses in a
member due to applied loads. It is expected that cracks will develop in a
reinforced concrete member under service loads i.e., the loads that are expected
during the lifetime of the structure. However, some control over the width and
distribution of structural cracks lies in the hands of the designer.
1.2 Objective
The objective of this report is Parametric Studies on Design of water tanks using
Genetic Algorithm, for tackling a large number of design variables and constraints
efficaciously at profuse levels by using genetic algorithm. This procedure will be
useful in assessing the analysis and design of reinforced concrete intze type water
tank, thereby achieving cost saving, consequently, minimizing the dependency on
the manual procedures.
1.3 Scope
In this work computer programs are developed to get the minimum cost design of
reinforced concrete intze type water tank. The design is coupled with GA and then
on the basis of design arrived, objective function is prepared and then on the
application of various constraints, a modified objective function arrives, thereby
calculating the modified cost of the materials required i.e., concrete and
reinforcement, and then parametric studies are carried out.
1.4 Significance
As per the growing need of water, there is an immense call for water supply to
fulfill the day-to-day needs. The electricity required for pumping water from low
levels to cities at higher plateau, and then taking it from ground level treatment
plants to large neighborhood water tanks calls for a good allotment of the city
electricity supply. To tame this issue, elevated tanks come into picture, which do
not require the continuous operation of pumps. Also short term pump shutdown
does not affect water pressure in the distribution system as the pressure is
maintained by gravity. And strategic location of the tank can equalize water
pressures in the distribution system.
The impetus of proffering elevated reinforced concrete water tanks is simply to

propose for the most basic daily needs. These water tanks are usually elevated
from the roof top through the column and their shapes are influenced by the
aesthetic view in surroundings and as well as the design of the construction.
The most popular type of elevated tank is the intze tank, consisting of two
spherical shells, one conical shell and one cylindrical shell. This dissertation
report mainly focuses on the optimum design of a reinforced concrete intze type
water tank. Basically optimization is finding out the best feasible ways to acquire
maximum benefit from the resources available. The existence of optimization
methods can be traced to the days of Newton, Lagrange and Cauchy. The modern
optimization methods, also sometimes called nontraditional optimization
methods, have emerged as robust and accepted methods for solving complex
engineering optimization problems in recent years. One of these methods is
genetic algorithms, which will be used to find the most optimal design of the intze
type water tank. Genetic algorithms are computerized search and optimization
algorithms based on the mechanics of natural genetics and natural selection. The
basic elements of natural genetics-reproduction, crossover, and mutation-are used
in the genetic search procedure.
Chapter 2
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF

REINFORCED CONCRETE INTZE TYPE
WATER TANK
2.1 General
As we all know that a water tank can be defined as a container that is required to
store water. Here, the basic question that triggers the mind of every individual is
that, what is the need to store water. Now, here comes the answer to this query.
Storage of water becomes essential:
For covering peaks during demand

For smoothening out the variations in supply
For providing water security during instances of supply interruptions or
disaster
For saving homes from fire
For satisfying legal requirements
For improving the water quality
For imparting thermal storage and freeze protection
For enabling a small pipe to serve for a distant source
All these reasons quoted above are to be incontrovertibly considered for the
storage of water and then inspecting the design principles for framing the goal of
the project to be carried out.
There are numerous types of water tanks which are classified on divergent
grounds such as
Position
Shape
Material
Accordingly, the classification under these three heads is done as follows:
According to position
Tanks resting on ground
Elevated tanks
Underground tanks
According to shape
Circular tank
Rectangular tank
Spherical tank
Intze tank
According to material
Reinforced cement concrete
Steel tank
Plastic tank
Fiber glass tank
Prestressed concrete tank
Among all these categories of water storage tanks, how to select the one which
will prove to be the most feasible design and most economical one.
Firstly, the most economical type of tank according to position comes out to be
the elevated tank. These tanks are supported on the staging that may be fabricated
of masonry walls, RCC tower or RCC columns that are braced together. They are
constructed for unmediated dispensation by gravity flow. These are generally
used as service reservoirs, as a balancing tank in water supply strategies and for
replenishing the tanks for variegated purposes. These tanks mainly have distinct
assets such as they are not overblown by climatic swaps, are impervious, provide
greater rigidity and are versatile for all shapes. The elevated water tower
generates a pressure of 1 psi per 2.31 feet of altitude at the ground-level outlet, so
it can be easily computed that a tank elevated to 70 feet generates around 30 psi of
discharge pressure, which is enough for most domestic and industrial demands.
Specifically these tanks have a tremendous number of uses, and some of them are
highlighted, i.e., they furnish gravity distribution during the lack of power, they
function as emergency fire water storage tank, they supply pressure head
corresponding to height in industry and ac plants, etc.
Secondly, the most economical type of water tank based on the shape of the
structural form is the circular one. This becomes logical on the following
arguments:
These can resist hydrostatic forces efficiently

The moments that are produced in the circular tanks are very low as they
are easily counterbalanced by the stresses that are generated in the
structure because of its shape
On comparison with other structural forms, for a particular capacity of
storage needed, these have the minimum surface area, and therefore the
material quantity required will be less than that required for other forms
The forces caused by water surging in the tank are reduced by their
inherent side-to-side damping property
They also resist internal pressure and vacuum as they are intrinsically
strong
But, as every entity has its pros as well as cons associated with it; for an assigned
capacity of tank and overall length, these have the highest center of gravity. On
the basis of center of gravity, rectangular forms may also be preferred sometimes
as they have the lowest of all and therefore provide for a flat upper surface that
can be used for hose beds and equipment storage, and on the same hand, its
biggest disadvantage is that their shape does not offer any inherent side-to-side
damping.
Ajagbe, W. O. et al., (2012), scrutinized the proficiency of the Rectangular and

Circular tanks. They examined tanks of the following capacities, i.e., 30m, 90 m,
140 m and 170m and drew some reasonable inferences on these grounds, tanks
shape effectiveness, relative cost implications of tank types and structural
capacities. They used the criteria of limit state design for generating Microsoft
Excel Spreadsheet Design Program, for getting a rapid and authentic design, and
from the engendered structural drawings, the quantities of the construction
materials- concrete, steel reinforcement and formwork were calculated. From this
whole procedure, they arrived at the conclusion that as the tank capacity
increases, the quantity of materials required for the construction of the proposed
structure also increase. But, a non-perfect proportionality emerged; a consistent
increase in the capacity did not lead to the commensurate increase in any of the
construction materials considered. Besides, the quantities of the construction
materials needed for the rectangular water tank were constantly more than that
needed for the circular water tank, at each miscellaneous capacity. Furthermore, it
was found, while assessing the relative reductions in the amounts of materials for
the circular tanks on comparison with those required for rectangular tanks, it can
be deduced, if the comparative facileness of putting up the shuttering; that is the
formwork, happens to be outstandingly more challenged in the construction of the
circular tanks, in this case, their postulated material-quantity advantage could be
relinquished for a selection of rectangular tanks (whilst the potential increase in
material-requirements).
Thirdly, when the classification on the basis of material of construction is taken

into consideration, then generally reinforced cement concrete tanks are preferred
over others due to some of their advantages listed below:
No special treatment is required to their surfaces when they hold water and
petroleum as these do not react with concrete.
Specifically for reinforced concrete tanks, the grade of concrete can be
selected as per the requirement but for different materials, when one goes
for other grade, then this may happen to be uneconomical sometimes.
In these tanks, there is a great possibility of achieving flexibility in shapes.
These tanks do not undergo corrosion.
With the increase in grade of concrete, the imperviousness of the tank also
increases.
There is no requirement of skilled labor for the construction of these tanks.
These tanks can easily be constructed of larger capacities.
As said above that no entity is free of flaws, these tanks also have some
shortcomings associated with them, firstly, depending upon a particular grade of
the material of construction used for a tank, these may become much costlier,
secondly, while dealing with the construction of these tanks, a good workmanship
is required, and lastly, when going for the repair work for leakage in these tanks,
this task might prove to be very difficult.
Sameer, R. et al., (2012), presented a Comparative study on R.C.C. water tanks

and Pre-stressed concrete water tanks that rest over firm ground. Their efforts
included the design and estimation of circular R.C.C. water tanks together with
the prestressed concrete water tanks of dissimilar diameter. This paper was aimed
at the design of medium diameter R.C.C water tanks along with the pre-stress
concrete water tanks of different variety and then comparing the results. MS
EXCEL was used as the programming interface for the designing of water tanks.
The idea was to reach to a definite closure regarding the superiority of one of the
two techniques over the other. Results revealed that an RCC tank happens to be
cheaper than the pre-stress concrete one for smaller diameters but vice versa is
true for larger diameter tanks. Therefore, prestressed concrete water tanks are not
worth trying for smaller capacities. Besides cost, other reason was that prestressed
concrete construction involves skilled labor & supervision. Additionally,
prestressing is a technology that is closely guarded in this country & so
information is not that easily available. It was found that, in case of RCC, an
increase in tank wall thickness resulted in decreased flexural steel. Nevertheless,
in case of pre-stressed concrete, an increase in thickness leads to a greater pre-
stressing force & accordingly more pre-stressing steel. More steel required for
generating this higher prestressing force results in higher cost. Thus, increase in
the thickness leads to tremendous increase in the cost in case of prestressed
concrete.
Looking to the above stated points it is clear that the best type of tanks are the
circular R.C.C. tanks. They may be elevated or underground. As most of the tanks
in water supply scheme are elevated tanks so their importance is justified.
2.2 Intze tank

When we talk about elevated tanks, that too circular, then a choice has to be made
as to which type of bottom is to be provided. A conflict runs between a flat and a
domical bottom. Now, in case of the flat bottoms, the thickness and reinforcement
are generally very heavy, and in case of the domed bottoms, the thickness and
reinforcement in the dome is a standard, but on the same hand, the reinforcement
in the bottom ring beam tends to be immoderate. Therefore, as the diameter of
such tanks increase; the size of the bottom ring beam also tends to increase,
leading to heavy expenses. A very much economical solution for this problem is
to reduce the diameter of the tank at its bottom, thereby providing a conical dome.
The resulting tank is referred to as intze tank on the basis of its shape. Generally
the domes provided in these tanks have a small rise and only have compressive
stress in them, and are watertight. Economy in their use is partly set off by
shuttering required for their construction, necessitating a study of relative costs
for adopting a design in practice. This tank is very advantageous, as the outward
thrust generated from the top of the conical dome, is resisted by the middle ring
beam, on the same hand, the difference between the inward thrust from the
bottom of the conical dome and the outward thrust from the bottom dome are
resisted by the bottom ring beam. Overall, a proportion is maintained between the
conical dome and the bottom dome such that the outward thrust from bottom
dome is balanced by the inward thrust from the conical dome.
2.2.1 Behavior of Intze tank
Intze tank can be defined as a type of circular elevated tank, consisting of two
spherical shells, one cylindrical shell and one conical shell. All these four shells
are considered as surfaces of revolution. As the loads and forces on each shell are
symmetrical about the axis of revolution, the loads are supported by the
development of membrane stresses only, that means, only direct stresses will be
induced in each shell if its edge displacements are not restrained by its supports.
As a result, bending and shear stresses are absent. And the direct stresses are the
meridional and hoop stresses.
2.2.2 Components of Intze tank
Top dome
Top ring beam
Tank wall
Middle ring beam
Conical dome
Bottom ring beam
Bottom dome
2.2.3 Analysis of Intze tank
The analysis of the intze tank is done by two methods:
Membrane analysis
Continuity analysis
Designing an intze tank is not an easy process, its cumbersome and time
consuming. Some of the very important conceptual points that are to be strictly
followed in the procedure are mentioned below:
In the process, it may happen that the load on the bottom dome becomes
heavy, and as the diameter is large, this results into large amount of
reinforcement for the ring beam. An economical alternative for this comes
out to be the reduction of diameter thereby introducing a conical dome,
resulting in lighter reinforcement for the ring beam, due to the thrust
generated from the conical dome opposing that generated from the bottom
dome, and the outcome of this is that the design proves to be economical
for deeper tanks.
When talking about achieving economy in the cost of container of the
intze tank alone, the height of the ring beam to the top of roof dome
should approximately be equal to the diameter.
The bottom dome should have a diameter of about 70% of that of the
diameter of the container.
The inclination of the conical dome with the horizontal should be less than
40 for avoiding the necessity of formwork for its top surface. But this
again results in a heavier ring beam at its top and simultaneously a larger
thickness of the dome itself. Therefore, to achieve an economical design
the inclination should be between 50 and 55.
The domes should be provided with rise of about 1/5 to 1/8 of the
diameter.
Membrane analysis:
While carrying out the membrane analysis of the intze tank, the members should
be assumed to act independent of each other. And as a result, these are only
subjected to direct stresses and no bending moment is introduced in any of the
members.
Top dome:
The top dome only supports its own load in addition to any live load on its
surface, which is considered as vertical with a uniform intensity per unit area
of the surface. As the dome is shallow, the meridional and hoop stresses are
both of a compressive nature throughout and the meridional stress is
maximum at the edges.
Top ring beam:
The only reaction from the top dome is the meridional thrust, whose
components impose a vertical load and an outward radial force on the beam.
The vertical load is bared by the walls and the resulting hoop tension resulting
from the radial force is resisted by the ring beam. And as a consequence, the
section of the ring beam should preferably be such that the tensile stresses in
concrete, calculated on the composite section, should be less than the cracking
stress.
Tank wall:
The tank wall is assumed to freely deform at both edges in the membrane
analysis. Because of this reason, the tank walls will be subjected only to the
hoop tension without any bending moment. The hoop tension occurring at the
base will be maximum. Horizontal rings are provided at both faces of the tank
wall to reinforce them adequately. In addition to this, vertical bars are
provided on both faces in the form of distribution reinforcement.
Middle ring beam:
The vertical load at the junction of wall with conical dome is transferred to the
middle ring beam by meridional thrust in the conical dome. Hoop tension is
caused by the horizontal component of this thrust at the junction and this hoop
tension is taken by the ring beam.
Conical dome:
The conical dome supports a uniform vertical load from walls at its top edge.
A hoop tension is created at the top of this dome. This hoop tension exerts a
radial inward force at the bottom ring beam. The magnitude of the radial force
created at top edge is so much that on combining with the vertical load, the
resultant lies along the meridian of the conical dome. Thus the vertical load at
top edge of the conical dome is supported by it with the creation of meridional
thrust and a hoop tension. The water pressure on the conical dome and its own
weight acting at any point give rise to hoop tensions at each plane, whose
inward reaction, together with the water pressure and weight of dome, cause a
resultant force which is meridional. There are no moments or shears in the
dome.
Bottom dome:
Only compressive stresses both meridionally and along hoops are developed
in the bottom dome. The maximum compressive stress occurs at edges
meridionally.
Bottom ring beam:
The reaction of the bottom dome on the beam is the inclined outward thrust.
This beam also receives an inward inclined thrust from the conical dome.
Effect of continuity:
As long as each shell is simply supported at its edges, that is, it undergoes edge
displacements without any restraint with the supports supplying the necessary
reaction to balance the meridional forces, there exists a pure membrane state of
stresses. But, in actual, there is a restraint on the edge displacements giving rise to
secondary stresses in the form of edge moments and hoop stresses. The result of
all this is the discontinuity occurring at junctions of different shells. Sagging
moments occur at the top and middle ring beams as a result of closing of the
angles at their corners, while hogging moments are developed at the bottom ring
beam as its angle tends to increase. At the top ring beam junction, the edges of the
top dome and vertical wall are pulled outwards resulting in tensile hoop stresses,
while the top ring beam is pushed inward and its hoop tension is reduced.
Similarly at the middle ring beam junction, the middle ring beam and edges of
conical dome are pushed inwards causing a reduction of hoop tension, while the
vertical wall is pulled outwards with increased hoop tension. At bottom ring beam
joint, the conical dome is pushed inwards, the bottom dome and bottom ring beam
are pulled outwards. This causes a hoop compression in conical dome and
reduction of hoop compression in bottom ring beam and bottom dome.
Many research papers have been published on the seismic behavior of elevated
tanks.
Jabar, A. M., Patel, H. S., (2012), in their paper, talked about the fluid-structure
interactions and the seismic behavior of elevated tanks. The main direct of their
study was to decipher the conduct of supporting system that will be effective
under disparate earthquake time history records using SAP 2000 software. Here
two distinct supporting systems like radial bracing and cross bracing were
collated to the basic supporting system for varied fluid level conditions. The
responses of tank encompassing base shear, roof displacement and overturning
moment had been observed, and after that the results were contrasted and
compared. The outcome evinced that the responses from the structure were
exceedingly impacted by the existence of water and the characteristics of
earthquake.
Gaikwad, M. V., Mangulkar, M. N., (2013), a paper regarding the performance of
Elevated Water Tank having framed staging in lateral earthquake loading using
IITK-GSDMA Guidelines by appraising two theoretical theories stated by Sudhir
Jain & Sameer U. S. [1990] and Rapid Assessment of Seismic Safety of Elevated
Water Tank having framed staging & Software STAAD Pro.-2007, for the
calculation of the lateral stiffness. After detailed study it was detected that the
lateral stiffness Ks which was obtained by using the Rapid Assessment of Seismic
Safety of Elevated Water Tank gave the optimum value of Base Shear and
Moment and hence it comes out to be economical.
The seismic behavior of elevated tanks not only depends upon the earthquake
forces but also on the subsoil conditions.
Livaoglu, R., Dogangun, A., (2007), in their paper talked about the seismic
responses of an elevated tank with a frame supporting system on various sub soils.
For modeling the elevated tank and subsoil system, they used the finite element
method. Subsoil was assumed to have fixed-base and elastic media. The model of
tank fluid was considered as lumped mass that identical to impulsive mass and the
convective masses as proposed by Housner. They used response spectrum
analysis with mode superposition for the estimation of seismic response of the
elevated tanks. Then the upshots acquired from the modeling of elevated tanks on
fixed base and elastic medium were contrasted. They came out with some
interesting conclusions:
It was noticed that the elevated tanks which were supported on elastic
medium having relatively low value of Youngs modulus may have
displacements larger than the allowable limits. In some instances, the
displacements were so large that the elevated tanks could have lost
stability even when the internal forces were small.
The base shear and the bending moment at the base of the supporting
structure increased as the Youngs modulus increased and Poissons ratio
decreased.
The phases for convective modes were classically long and were less
prejudiced by the foundation displacement.
The interludes for impulsive modes were pointedly influenced by rigidity
of the soil. But the effect got smaller as Youngs modulus increased. The
intervals of impulsive modes were not affected by the Youngs modulus if
it happened to be higher than 2000 MPa. Moreover, another mode that
could be termed as torsional mode was not substantially exaggerated by
the properties of the subsoil in almost all the cases.
Slight change in Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio of the soil not only
affected the values of the intervals but also the mode orders. This
indicated that considering the first few modes only might cause important
deficits in the design. In fact, vertical modes inclined to be comprised
within the first ten modes if the value of Youngs modulus was low.
The seismic conduct of elevated tanks supported on the soft soil,
specifically if the Youngs modulus was less than 50MPa, stood sensitive
to the envelopment of modal masses and the mode order of the systems.
When the vertical modes were evaluated, it was true that the modes at
perpendicular directions did not took place at the same time.
Sloshing behavior is also observed in elevated tanks. When a tank containing

liquid with a free surface is subjected to horizontal earthquake ground motion,
tank wall and liquid are subjected to horizontal acceleration. The liquid in the
lower region of tank behaves like a mass that is rigidly connected to tank wall,
termed as impulsive liquid mass. Liquid mass in the upper region of tank
undergoes sloshing motion, termed as convective liquid mass.
Patel, C. N. et al.,(2012), considered a reinforced concrete elevated water tank

having capacity of 1000 m and supported on fixed base frame type staging
system with tapering of 0, 3, 6 and 9. Sloshing displacement decreased with
an increase in the tapering of staging. Sloshing displacement decreased constantly
with the increase in the tapering of staging during high frequency earthquakes and
produced different variations during low frequency earthquakes with respect to
different filled up conditions.
It has been stated in the literature about the soil-structure interaction that it does
not extensively affect the sloshing responses of the ground level cylindrical tanks,
as a concern of this study performed by Livaoglu, R., Dogangun, A., (2008), it
was established that the sloshing responses of the elevated tanks were affected by
the soil-structure interaction. They concluded that the sloshing response was
affected from the embedment much more in the case of soft soil than the stiff soil,
i.e., as the soil gets softer, the effects of the embedment on sloshing responses
became more visible.
Performance of elevated tanks is also affected by wind forces. This study was
carried out by Hirde, S. K. et al., (2011). They observed that in the Gujarat
cyclone, the storage tanks were displaced by a few meters and some were
overturned because of wind. They were swept away. Flying debris caused dents
on the surfaces of the tanks when they were hit. On further experimentation, they
concluded that wind force is a very important parameter for elevated water tank
which is most susceptible to horizontal forces because of large mass concentrated
at considerable height.
Kumar, A., et al, (2013), studied the wind effects on overhead tank under different
soil parameters and came to a conclusion that for a given soil bearing capacity, as
the wind speed increases, the volume of concrete and quantity of steel required
also increases. Also, they found that, for a given value of wind speed, as the soil
bearing capacity increases so does the volume of concrete and quantity of steel
required decreases.
Chapter 3
OPTIMIZATION
A famous quote of Dante
All that is superfluous displeases GOD and NATURE
All that displeases GOD and NATURE is evil.
When we refer this quote to engineering, it simply means that optimal projects are
considered beautiful and rational, and the ones that are considered far-from-
optimal ones are regarded as ugly and meaningless. From this, it is very much
obvious that, every engineer tries to build the best project and for achieving this
goal, he/she relies on optimization methods.
Optimization can be elucidated as a goal directed search for procuring the best
solution to a problem that is under deliberation. In the design, construction and
maintenance of engineering system that is under consideration, it is required to
take many technological and managerial decisions at various stages, ultimately
leading to minimization of the effort required or to maximization of the benefit
desired.
This whole scheme can be easily exhibited as a function of explicit decision

variables, therefore it can definitely be stated that optimization is to find the
prerequisites that will give the maximum or minimum value for a function. The
standards according to which, it can be apprehended that what is the best must be
set by the design engineer as these happen to be problem specific. The target to be
attained in the problem of optimization is generally represented numerically, and
this representation is termed as objective function. For instance, when it is desired
to minimize the objective function, then the term cost function is specifically
preferred. In this dissertation report, the technique used for optimization is the
genetic algorithm, and so the term fitness function is used instead of objective
function. When searching for a solution to be an optimal one, it is required by the
design engineer to manipulate some independent variables, known as the design
variables. There comes another parameter, constraint, which denotes to a
restriction that is placed by the design engineer on either of the two, i.e., decision
variables of the design problem or the resulting solutions. If the resulting solution
does not violate any of the constraints posed by the design engineer, then the
solution is known as feasible solution. And so can be interpreted, as the number of
constraints posed increase, then the feasible region, i.e., the region consisting of
all feasible solutions gets smaller in size, and so this arrives at the conclusion that
highly constrained problems may result in an empty feasible region having zero
feasible solutions.
The aspect of cost optimization should be undergone at various stages of the

project viz. designs, procurement of material, project implementation, project
startup and the subsequent operations.
It has been notified that the challenges in the water industry are increasing
tremendously around the globe, together with the implementation of capital
constraints and operational cost escalation; necessitate the evaluation of technical,
economical and environmental parameters to reach an optimal solution.
Coming back to the relation of optimization with this dissertation report, the main
wants for an efficient reinforced concrete water tank design is that the response of
the structure should be acceptable as per various specifications, i.e., it should be a
feasible one. There may exist a large number of feasible designs, but it is
desirable to choose the best one. The best design could be in terms of minimum
cost, minimum weight, maximum durability or maximum performance or a
combination of these.
3.1 Engineering applications of optimization

Optimization has ample number of applications in solving engineering problems.
Some of them are highlighted below:
Designing the aerospace structures and aircraft for minimum weight

For space vehicles, the optimal trajectories can be found
Designing the civil engineering structures like foundations, dams, towers,
bridges, chimneys, and frames for deducing their minimum cost
Designing the structures for wind, earthquakes, and any other type of a
random loading for minimum weight
Designing the systems of water resources for achieving maximum benefit
Plastic designing of structures optimally
Designing the machine tools, cams, gears, linkages, and other mechanical
components optimally
Selecting the machining conditions in the processes of metal-cutting for
achieving minimum cost of production
Designing the equipments for material handling such as trucks, conveyors,
and cranes for getting the minimum cost
Designing the turbines, heat transfer equipment, and pumps for gaining
maximum efficiency
Designing the electrical machinery such as generators, transformers, and
motors optimally
Designing the electrical networks optimally
Shortest route that a salesperson takes during one tour while visiting
various cities
Optimum production planning, scheduling, and controlling
Building empirical models and analyzing the statistical data from the
results obtained through experiments to get the representation of the
physical phenomenon that will be most accurate
Designing the chemical processing plants and equipments optimally
Designing the pipeline networks optimally for process industries
Selecting a site for any industry
Planning the maintenance and replacing the equipment for reducing the
operating costs
Inventory control
Allocating the services or resources among several activities for
maximizing the benefit
Control on the idle and waiting times and queuing in the lines of
production for reduction of the costs
Planning of best strategy for obtaining maximum profit when a competitor
is present
Designing the control systems optimally
3.2 Issues involved in optimization
Statement of an optimization problem
An optimization problem can be stated as shown below:

Subject to constraints
gj(X) 0, j=1,2,3,,m
lj(X) = 0, j=1,2,3,,p
X n-dimensional vector called design vector
F(X) objective function
gj(X) inequality constraint
lj(X) equality constraint
The above stated problem is the constrained optimization problem. Sometimes,

some problems do not involve any constraints; they are the unconstrained
optimization problem.
A set of quantities required for defining any engineering system or component

that usually remain fixed, are known as pre-assigned parameters, and the other are
treated as variables in the design process are the decision or design variables. And
these design variables are collectively represented as a design vector.
Generally, the design variables are not chosen arbitrarily, they have to satisfy
certain specified functional and other requirements, and these restrictions imposed
on them are collectively known as design constraints.
Constraints representing limitations on the behavior or performance of the system

are termed behavior or functional constraints, while those representing the
physical limitations on the design variables are termed as geometric or side
constraints.
Let us take an optimization problem with only inequality constraints gj(X) 0.

The set of values of X satisfying equation gj(X)=0 forms a hypersurface in the
design space and is known as constraint surface. This is an (n-1) dimensional
subspace, with n design variables. Now, the points lying on the hypersurface will
satisfy the constraint critically, those lying above the hypersurface are infeasible
or unacceptable, and those lying below the hypersurface are feasible or
acceptable.
Now the figure below shows, a hypothetical two-dimensional design space where
the infeasible region is indicated by hatched lines.A bound point is a design point
lying on one or more constraint surface, and the associated constraint is called an
active constraint. Free point is a design point that does not lie on any of the
constraint surfaces. Also whether a design point lies in acceptable or unacceptable
region; can be identified as:
Free and acceptable point

Free and unacceptable point
Bound and acceptable point
Bound and unacceptable point
The criterion with respect to which the design is optimized, when expressed as a
function of the design variables, is known as the objective function.
3.3 Need for Optimization
For designing an efficient and a cost-effective system without compromising for

the integrity, is a big challenge for the design engineers.
The figure below denotes a self-explanatory flowchart for conventional and

optimum design methods respectively. The important notes on the two processes
are explained as below:
Formulation of the problem is done in the optimum design method represented by
the block 0.
Data description is required for both the methods, and is indicated by block 1.
Estimating the initial design is required for both the methods, and is indicated by
block 2.
Analysis of system is required by both the methods as indicated by block 3.
Difference comes in the block 4; conventional design method ensures that the
performance criteria are correctly met, while the optimum design method checks
for the satisfaction of all the constraints for the problem that is formulated in
block 0.
Block 5 indicates that the stopping criteria for both the methods are checked and
also the iteration is stopped if the criteria mentioned are met.
In block 6, the design based on the experience and intuition of designer and some
other information gathered from one or more trials is updated in the conventional
design method; and in the optimum design method, the current design is updated
by using optimization concepts and procedures.
From the above discussed distinctions between the two methods, it can be
concluded that the conventional method of design is less formal. This can be
explained as that an objective function that measures the merits of a design is not
identified. Calculation of trend information is not carried out, nor is it used in
block 6 for making design decisions for the improvement of system. On the other
hand, the optimum design method is more formal as it uses trend information for
making the changes in the design.
Guerra, A., Kiousis, P. D., (2006), presented a novel approach for optimal sizing
and reinforcing multi-bay and multi-story RC structures incorporating optimal
stiffness correlation among structural members. This study incorporated realistic
materials, forming, and labor costs that were based on member dimensions, and
implemented a structural model with distinct design variables for each member.
Comparison between the optimal costs and the typical design method costs
demonstrated instances where typical design assumptions resulted in efficient
structures and where they did not.
Kadim J. A., Jasim N. A., (2012), studied the effect of the design capacity of the
tank, bearing capacity of the soil, unit price of steel and concrete, and finally unit
cost of formwork. They concluded that the optimum tank is the one with walls of
small height, but then the formwork costs are high. Also, total cost also increases,
that too linearly, with the increase of the design capacity of tank, and in addition
diameter of tank is also increased on reduction of the bearing capacity of soil.
Individually, high concrete cost high steel cost results to an increase in the tank
height but resulting in an increase and decrease of steel content respectively.
Patel C. N., Patel H. S., (2012), compared the behavior of elevated water tank
with frame and shaft type tapered staging in lateral earthquake loading using
GSDMA guide line and software SAP2000. The study assessed the optimum
diameter of staging with reference to the diameter of container, and observed
effect of staging better. The study reveals that value of axial tension decreases
with increase in tapering of staging as well as increase in diameter of staging.
Optimum dimension of staging to fulfill the requirement of 'No Tension in
column is with 70% and 80% diameter of staging in comparison with the
container diameter for frame and shaft type staging respectively, in accordance
with inclination of 6.
Many practical optimum design problems are characterized by mixed continuous-

discrete variables, and discontinuous and non-convex design spaces. If standard
nonlinear programming techniques are used for this type of problem they will be
inefficient, computationally expensive, and in most cases, find a relative optimum
that is closest to the starting point. Genetic algorithms are well suited for solving
such problems, and in most cases they can find the global optimum solution with
a high probability. Although GAs were first presented systematically by Holland,
the basic ideas of analysis and design based on the concepts of biological
evolution can be found in the work of Rechenberg. Philosophically, GAs are
based on Darwins theory of survival of the fittest.
Chapter 4
GENETIC ALGORITHMS
4.1 Basics
An algorithm may be defined as any procedure that uses data and modifies it
according to a set of instructions. Every structured calculation procedure is an
example of an algorithm. Genetic algorithms are basically programs simulating
the logic of Darwinian selection. In simple words, GA means understanding the
simple, iterative process underpinning evolutionary change. The simple concept
behind a GA is that populations accumulate differences over time, because of the
environmental conditions acting as a selective mechanism for breeding. And the
issue, of course, is how best to get that selection process translated into a program
procedure and applied to problem under consideration. GAs are basically capable
of finding good solutions in equitable amounts of time, and as we apply these for
solving harder and large problems, then the computational time increases. But,
nowadays many efforts are made for making working of GAs faster.
Technically speaking, Genetic Algorithms are the heuristic search and

optimization techniques that imitate the process of natural evolution. This
heuristic is used routinely for generating useful solutions to the optimization and
search problems. These generate solutions for the optimization problems using the
techniques that are inspired by the natural evolution, such as inheritance,
mutation, selection, and crossover. Darvinian evolution is the rudimentary
mechanism in GAs, as bad traits are completely eliminated from the population of
individuals. These find applications in engineering, mathematics, physics,
chemistry, economics, manufacturing, computational sciences, bioinformatics,
pharmacometrics, phylogenetics, and other fields.
4.1.2 Some basic terms
Individual:
Any possible solution can be considered as an individual.
Population:
Set of design points at the current iteration representing a group of designs

as potential solution points.
Generation:
A generation is simply an iteration of the genetic algorithm.
Search Space :
Search space can be defined as all possible solutions to a specific problem.
Chromosome:
Represents a design point of the system, may it be feasible or infeasible.
Trait:
Traits are basically the possible aspects of an individual.
Allele:
Alleles are the possible settings of trait (black, blond, etc.).
Locus:
A locus is the position of a gene on the chromosome.
Gene:
Basically, a gene represents the value of a particular design variable.
Genome:
Genome is the collection of all chromosomes for an individual.
Genotype:
Genotype is a particular set of genes in a genome.
Phenotype:
Phenotype is the physical characteristic of the genotype (smart, beautiful,

healthy, etc.).
4.2 History
Developed: USA in the 1970s
Early names: J. Holland, K. DeJong, D. Goldberg
Typically applied to:
Discrete optimization
Attributed features:
It is not too fast
It is a good heuristic for combinatorial problems
Special Features:
It emphasizes traditionally on combining the information from good
parents (crossover) many variants, e.g., reproduction models, operators
4.3 Applications
Artificial Creativity.
Genetic programming and the bond graphs are used for the automated
design for the mechatronic systems.
Code-breaking, for one correct decryption, GAs are used for searching a
large solution space of ciphers.
Designing of the water distribution systems.
Distributed computer network topologies.
Electronic circuit design, known as Evolvable hardware.
Allocation of file for a distributed system.
JGAP: Java Genetic Algorithms Package, including support for Genetic
Programming also.
Representation of the rational agents in economic models such as the
cobweb model.
Software engineering.
Traveling Salesman Problem.
Mobile communications infrastructure optimization.
4.4 Working of a GA
Now, the question arises as to how does a genetic algorithm basically work?
When a function under consideration is to be optimized, firstly, possible solutions
are encoded into chromosome-like strings, so that genetic operators could be
easily applied to them. Genetic algorithms start with a population of randomly
generated solutions containing the parameter characteristic variability of the
population. A fitness function is used according to which the relative fitness of
each individual in the population is assessed by dividing the individuals fitness
with the total fitness of the entire population. Then a cumulative fitness is
calculated for each individual as the sum of the relative fitness for all members up
to the one being calculated. The cumulative fitness is thereby normalized over the
entire population to a maximum of 1.0 for the last individual. A fitness function
value quantifies the optimality of a solution, and is used to rank a particular
solution against all the other solutions. In this process of selection it determines as
to which solutions are to be preserved and allowed to reproduce and which ones
deserve to die out. Generally, selection of the parents is stochastically biased
towards solutions with better objective function values, i.e., solutions with a
higher fitness, as GAs are based on the Darwins theory, Survival of the fittest.
Actually, the probability of each individual to survive is proportional to its fitness.
Its main objective is to emphasize the good solutions and eliminate the bad
solutions in a population while keeping the population size constant. Once the
new population of individuals is selected, recombination begins. The genetic
algorithm moves through the population by pairs and randomly determines if each
individual pair will be recombined. This is known as crossover, that usually takes
two solutions, known as the parents, and recombines them to generate one or
more new solutions, known as the children. Parents are chosen from all the
solutions of the current population. In this process, the parent pairs exchange their
gene bits creating new gene strings that contain the characteristics of the parent
strings. The methodology behind this is that a random point along the pair of
chromosomes is selected and the remainder of each chromosome to the right of
the selection point is swapped between the two chromosomes. Now comes,
another genetic operator, mutation, which takes a solution and modifies it slightly
to form a new solution. In other words, mutation protects against loss of useful
genetic material and forces the search for the optimal solution to a different place
in the solution space. After certain cycles of crossovers and mutations, some of
the solutions in the old population are replaced by new ones and this concludes
one generation of the algorithm, replacing the unfit solutions by the fit ones
thereby keeping the size of population constant. This procedure repeats until a
stopping criterion is met. Sometimes in the process of crossover and mutation,
some of the best solutions are discarded unfortunately. Elitism, a genetic operator,
that automatically preserves x% best solutions, throughout generations. As we are
dealing with a real world problem that has some constraints also, a penalty
function is the way to constrain the behavior of the fitness function to the feasible
region by applying a penalty for violating a problem constraint. A penalty
function generally reduces the value of the fitness function when a constraint is
violated.
These days GAs are becoming extremely popular, because of the cited attractions:
Generality:
GAs are very general in nature, only the encoding and the fitness function
need to be changed from one problem to another.
Non-linearity:
No assumptions of linearity, convexity or differentiability of the problem

are necessary.
Robustness:
A wide range of parameter settings will work well.
Ease of modification:
Unlike most other heuristics, variations of the original problem are

modeled quickly.
Parallel nature:
There is a great potential for parallel implementation.
GA differs from the traditional search methods in the following ways:
GAs work with coding the values of the decision variables in a string
known as chromosome. The design engineer devises the encoding and
interpretation of the string and is interpreted simply as a string of binary
digits by the computer and each bit can be thought of as a gene in the
chromosome.
GAs evaluate a population of points to perform the search. As each
individual represents one possible solution to the proposed problem, its
chromosome encodes one set of decision variables and this results in a
single point in the solution space.
GAs use objective function information, not derivatives or other auxiliary
knowledge, to determine the fitness of the solution. As derivatives are not
used so the expense of derivative calculation is not incurred and also then
this method is definitely not affected by discontinuous functions.
GAs use probabilistic transition rules not deterministic rules in the
generation of the new populations i.e. this technique is not a random
search method, but uses random processes to transition from one search
state to another. A good balance is maintained between wide exploration
of the search space and exploitation of fitness landscape features by using
the random processes.
4.5 GA Requirements
In a typical genetic algorithm two things are required to be defined:

Genetic representation of the solution domain
A fitness function for evaluating the solution domain
A standardized representation of the solution is an array of bits.
The parts of genetic representation can be easily aligned because of their
size which is fixed that will facilitate simple crossover operation.
Variable length representations can also be used, but then the crossover
implementation becomes more complex for this case.
In Genetic programming, tree-like representations can be explored.
The fitness function measures the quality of the solution represented as it
is defined over the genetic representation.
The fitness function happens to be always problem dependent.
4.6 Advantages
Every optimization problem that can be described with the chromosome
encoding can be solved.
Problems with multiple solutions can also be solved.
As the execution technique of genetic algorithm does not depend on the
error surface, sonon-differential, multi-dimensional, non-continuous, and
even non-parametrical problems can be solved.
The solution structure and solution parameter problems can be solved at
the same time by the aid of structural genetic algorithm.
Genetic algorithm is very easy to understand and does not demand any
knowledge of mathematics.
Genetic algorithms can be transferred to existing models and simulations
easily.
A vast solution set can be quickly scanned.
The end solutions are not affected by bad proposals because they get
simply discarded.
GA is inductive in nature that means it works on its own internal rules,
andthere is no need to know the rules of the problem.
GA is very much useful for complex or loosely defined problems.
Lute, V. et al., (2011), in their paper, worked out the optimum design of cable
stayed bridges by using genetic algorithm as a lot many parameters are involved
in the design, and they considered an enormous number of design variables along
with practical constraints, and herein the total material cost for the bridge was
considered as the objective function. They took into account maximum possible
design variables and practical constraints while the problem formulation. They
presented some parametric studies by using the genetic algorithm. The parametric
studies included effect from the grouping of cables, effect from geometric non
linearity, effect on height of tower and side span from the practical site
constraints, effect from cable layout, effect from bridge material, effect on
optimum relative cost from extra-dosed bridges. They also prepared the data base
for the new designers for the estimation of relative cost of bridge. Their main
conclusion was that GA is a robust tool used for optimization. They came out
with the outcome that GA was able to handle any number of variables very easily
and the program developed by them was very much general for accommodating
variables, discrete and continuous.
Upadhyay, A., Kalyanaraman, V., (2010), in their paper, derived a procedure for
having a generalized optimum design of FRP box-girder bridges, by the use of
genetic algorithm. They presented the formulation for the design problem in terms
of the objective function and constraints. Optimization for configuration, size and
topology is also done simultaneously. They also carried out some optimum design
studies in order to check the behavior of the procedure developed and for
obtaining patterns in optimum design that will prove to be helpful for new
designers. They discussed the need for using genetic algorithms for solving the
specified problem, and came out with some interesting outcomes:
GA proves to be efficient in solving the optimum design problems which

are complex in nature.
Dependency on initial seed value of optimum mass was small.
The optimum design procedure developed was more general because the
optimization of size, configuration and topology could be carried out
simultaneously.
Lute, V. et al., (2009), worked on the optimum design of cable-stayed bridge,

which was very complicated as a huge number of design variables were involved.
They used genetic algorithm for the same. But this consumed remarkable
computational time. Ascribed to nonlinearity, structural analysis itself requires
substantial computational time and it is required by the genetic algorithm to
execute large number of repetitions for obtaining global minima. They adopted a
new approach dealing with combining the GA and the support vector machine
(SVM). This reduces the optimization computational time drastically. They
obtained minimum cost for the cable-stayed bridge by the employment of genetic
algorithm and constraint evaluation was done by the adoption of support vector
machine (SVM) that was trained by a data base which was generated through the
FEM analysis. Herein, optimization was done for bridge lengths that ranged from
100 to 500m. Finally, the optimum designs were reanalyzed for checking the
adequacy of the approach developed. They found that the suggested combination
of genetic algorithm and support vector machine is very much efficient
computationally and therefore profitable for the modification of the cable-stayed
bridges.
Chau K.W., Albermani F., (2002), applied genetic algorithm (GA) to the optimum
design of reinforced concrete liquid retaining structures, which comprise three
discrete design variables, including slab thickness, reinforcement diameter and
reinforcement spacing. A GA has been successfully implemented for the optimum
design of reinforced concrete liquid retaining structures involving discrete design
variables.
Chapter 5
OPTIMUM DESIGN
FORMULATION
5.1 Introduction
The structural optimization problem can be formulated either using mathematical
programming approach or the optimality criteria approach. The present problem
of optimizing the design for minimum cost of a reinforced concrete intze type
water tank is formulated as a mathematical programming problem. The design
vectors, constraints and the formulation of the objective functions of each
problem are explained in this section.
The one-shot formulation of the optimum design of entire water tank structure
becomes a complex problem due to the following facts:
Since the optimum solution seeking is a repetitive analysis-design procedure, the

analysis of the structure using membrane and continuity effects and thereby
arriving at the final design through any of the methods, working stress or limit
state is time-consuming procedure.
Since the water tank structure consists of numerous variables, the problem
becomes a large non-linear programming problem which requires an efficient
solution technique, sufficient computer memory and more computer time for
seeking the solution.
Therefore, in the present work optimum design of the water tank is obtained only
for the container part.
5.2 Optimum design formulation

In this dissertation, the optimum design formulation is based on the technique,
Genetic Algorithm. Basically, GA is concerned with the population that is
assembly of candidate solutions. A supreme feature of the population in the early
iteration of its evolution is the genetic diversity. There may be a scarcity in
genetic diversity if population size chosen happens to be too small. This results in
a population that is dominated nearly by equal chromosomes and when decoding
of genes is done, and the objective function evaluated, the population converges
rapidly but this might result into a local optimum. At the other end of the
spectrum, when the population is too large, the surplus age of genetic diversity
can open on to congregating of individuals about distinct local optima. When the
mating of two individuals takes place and they belong to different groups, then the
offspring may lack the magnificent genetic part of any of the parents.
Additionally, the manipulation of populations with large size may prove to be
very expensive in terms of computer operation time. Therefore, after certain trials,
the population size has been fixed to 30.
There are some predominant strands when optimization is based on GA:
Coding and decoding the design variables

Evaluating the fitness of each and every solution string
Applying the genetic parameters viz., selection, crossover and mutation
for kindling the next iteration of solution strings
5.2.1 Design Variables
When dealing with the formulation of optimization problem, the starting step is to
spot the design variables. In the current assignment, the nominated design
variables are:
gradec Grade of concrete

grades Grade of steel
diatw Diameter of tank
dr1 diabrb/diatw :Ratio of diameter of bottom ring beam to diameter
of tank
dr2 ristd/diatw :Ratio of rise of top dome to diameter of tank
dr3 risbd/diabrb :Ratio of rise of bottom dome to diameter of bottom
ring beam
slopecdSlope of conical dome with the horizontal
thicktd Thickness of top dome
widthtrbWidth of top ring beam
thicktrbThickness of top ring beam
thicktw1Thickness of tank wall at top
thicktw2Thickness of tank wall at bottom
widthmrbWidth of middle ring beam
thickmrbThickness of middle ring beam
thickcd Thickness of conical dome
thickbdThickness of bottom dome
widthbrbWidth of bottom ring beam
thickbrbThickness of bottom ring beam
5.2.2 Design Parameters
As discussed above, design variables are the entities that can vary throughout the
optimization problem. Also, there exist some other kind of entities that do remain
constant throughout the problem, these are known as design parameters. In the
current assignment, the nominated design parameters are:
section Conversion factor (cm)

tvol Total volume of water in tank (m)
ll Live load (kg/m)
Es Modulus of elasticity of steel (kg/cm)
per Permissible stress for steel bars (kg/cm)
percol Permissible stress in columns for steel bars (kg/cm)
dirten Permissible concrete stresses in direct tension (kg/cm)
benten Permissible concrete stresses in bending tension (kg/cm)
bencom Permissible concrete stresses in bending compression (kg/cm)
dircom Permissible concrete stresses in direct compression (kg/cm)
densityw Density of water (kg/m)
densityc Density of concrete (kg/m)
densitys Density of steel (kg/m)
concret e Cost of concrete (Rs./ m)
steel Cost of steel (Rs./t)
fos Factor of safety
ten Diameter of bar (cm)
twelve Diameter of bar (cm)
sixtee Diameter of bar (cm)
twenty Diameter of bar (cm)
twentyfive Diameter of bar (cm)
twentyeightDiameter of bar (cm)
eighteen Cover (cm)
ctwentyfiveCover (cm)
thirty Cover (cm)
thirtytwo Cover (cm)
thirtyfive Cover (cm)
forty Cover (cm)
p1 Penalty for constraint violation 1
flag Choice for choosing method of design
5.2.3 Coding and Decoding of Variables
Coding of variables is required by the genetic algorithm for describing a problem.

The variables are transformed into binary form by converting them into genetic
space from the design space. It is customary that the variables be transformed to a
binary string having a specific length of chromosome. While considering a
specific problem depending on more than one variable, then construction of a
multivariable coding is done by joining numerous single variables coding as there
are number of variables involved in the problem.
5.2.4 Objective Function
In the structural design, the commanding objective is to minimize the structural

cost. From the many multi-objective functions, an optimization problem can have,
the prime objective function is chosen as the only objective function upon which
the attention is to be focused and others are considered as constraints by applying
restrictions on their values within the bounds of a certain range.The objective
function for the current assignment is the cost of the tank which is the function of
the design variables. The total cost of the tank can be expressed as the sum of the
cost of concrete and reinforcement.
Objective function f(X) = Cost of concrete + Cost of steel
(ofxb) =costc + costs
Where, ofxb Objective function (Rs.)
costc Cost of concrete per m
costs Cost of steel per tonne
In the current assignment objective functions for various members of reinforced

concrete intze type water tank has been considered as follows:
volctd Volume of concrete in top dome in m

volstd Volume of steel in top dome in m
costctd Cost of concrete in top dome in Rs./ m
coststd Cost of steel in top dome in Rs./ton
ofxbtd Objective function in top dome
volctrb Volume of concrete in top ring beam in m
volstrb Volume of steel in top ring beam in m
costctrb Cost of concrete in top ring beam in Rs./ m
coststrb Cost of steel in top ring beam in Rs./ton
ofxbtrb Objective function in top ring beam
volctw Volume of concrete in tank wall in m
volstw Volume of steel in tank wall in m
costctw Cost of concrete in tank wall in Rs./ m
coststw Cost of steel in tank wall in Rs./ton
ofxbtw Objective function in tank wall
volcmrb Volume of concrete in middle ring beam in m
volsmrb Volume of steel in middle ring beam in m
costcmrb Cost of concrete in middle ring beam in Rs./ m
costsmrb Cost of steel in middle ring beam in Rs./ton
ofxbmrb Objective function in middle ring beam
volccd Volume of concrete in conical dome in m
volscd Volume of steel in conical dome in m
costccd Cost of concrete in conical dome in Rs./ m
costscd Cost of steel in conical dome in Rs./ton
ofxbcd Objective function in conical dome
volcbd Volume of concrete in bottom dome in m
volsbd Volume of steel in bottom dome in m
costcbd Cost of concrete in bottom dome in Rs./ m
costsbd Cost of steel in bottom dome in Rs./ton
ofxbbd Objective function in bottom dome
volcbrb Volume of concrete in bottom ring beam in m
volsbrb Volume of steel in bottom ring beam in m
costcbrb Cost of concrete in bottom ring beam in Rs./ m
costsbrb Cost of steel in bottom ring beam in Rs./ton
ofxbbrb Objective function in bottom ring beam
Some formulae
costctd=volctd*concrete
coststd=volstd*steel*densitys
ofxbtd=costctd+coststd
costctrb=volctrb*concrete
coststrb=volstrb*steel*densitys
ofxbtrb=costctrb+coststrb
costctw=volctw*concrete
coststw=volstw*steel*densitys
ofxbtw=costctw+coststw
costcmrb=volcmrb*concrete
costsmrb=volsmrb*steel*densitys
ofxbmrb=costcmrb+costsmrb
costccd=volccd*concrete
costscd=volscd*steel*densitys
ofxbcd=costccd+costscd
costcbd=volcbd*concrete
costsbd=volsbd*steel*densitys
ofxbbd=costcbd+costsbd
costcbrb=volcbrb*concrete
costsbrb=volsbrb*steel*densitys
ofxbbrb=costcbrb+costsbrb
In simple expression, the main objective function of the structural design

problem:
ofxb=(ofxbtd+ofxbtrb+ofxbtw+ofxbmrb+ofxbcd+ofxbbd+ofxbbrb)/100000
Predominantly, it is necessary for the structural design to abide by a number of

inequality constraints that may be associated with stresses, deflection,
dimensional relationships, and codal requirements. These are handled
competently by penalty approach in genetic algorithm. In the penalty approach,
when the future use of a candidate solution is determined, and if there is any
constraint violation, then the solution is penalized. How much penalty is to be
applied depends upon how much critical is the role of constraints in the objective
function.
5.2.5 Constraints
In pursuing the optimum design which is desired to have the minimum value for
the above formulated objective function, certain requirements need to be satisfied.
These requirements emerge to be equations and/or inequalities that are nothing
else but functions of design variables considered in the optimization problem.
These are termed as constraints. These are of two types:
Geometric or side constraint:
These constraints can be expressed in terms of design variables explicitly.
Behavior constraint:
These constraints are based on the structural response and normally they
cannot be expressed explicitly and therefore their evaluation requires the
analysis of the structure at the present state.
Constraints in this optimization problem formulation:
C1 -(1-(comtd/dircom)) ; comtd : Compressive stress in top dome

C2 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in top dome
C3 -(1-(tensiletrb/dirten)) ; tensiletrb : Tensile stress in concrete in top
ring beam
C4 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in top ring beam
C5 -(1-(tensiletw/dirten)) ; tensiletw : Tensile stress in concrete in tank
wall
C6 -(1-(hoopbtw/dirten)) ; hoopbtw : Hoop stress in bottom 1 m of
tank wall
C7 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in tank wall
C8-(1-(tensilemrb/dirten)) ; tensilemrb : Tensile stress in concrete in
middle ring beam
C9 -(1-(hoop/dirten)) ; hoop : Hoop stress in middle ring beam
C10 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in middle ring beam
C11 -(1-(hoop/dirten)) ; hoop : Hoop stress in conical dome
C12 -(1-(ben/benten)) ; ben : Bending stress in conical dome
C13 -(1-(tensilecd/dirten)) ; tensilecd : Tensile stress in concrete in
conical dome
C14 -(1-(comcd/dircom)) ; comcd : Compressive stress in conical
dome
C15 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in conical dome
C16 -(1-(combd/dircom)) ; combd : Compressive stress in bottom
dome
C17 -(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in bottom dome
C18 -(1-(combrb/dircom)) ; combrb : Compressive stress in bottom
ring beam
C19-(1-(w/0.02)) ; w : Crackwidth in bottom ring beam
Chapter 6
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
6.1 Parametric design studies

There are no norms existing for judgment with the results for optimum design of
reinforced concrete intze type water tank produced in this study. The optimum
designs were carried out by keeping the seed value constant and together with it
changing the grade of concrete and also by keeping the grade of concrete constant
and at the same time changing the seed value. The following figures showing
graphs were obtained during the optimum designs for the reinforced concrete
intze type water tank.
Explanations:
From the graphs below, it can be easily interpreted that, on keeping the seed value
constant, when the grade of concrete is increased, then the objective function
approaches to the optimum faster. But at the same time, in the lesser grade of
concrete case, the convergence of optimum is attained faster. Also, at the same
time, if the seed value is increased, keeping the grade constant, then a much faster
convergence is attained, but the attainment of optimum does not follow any
special trend.
6.2 Effect of variation in seed value
For generating the individuals for the first iteration, it is required to have seed
values. From the tables, it can be deduced that for different seed values, the
objective functions optimum value comes out to be almost same. So it can be
easily concluded that GA based procedures for optimum design are reliable and
they ultimately converge to near global values of optima rather getting trapped
into the local minima. Also, numerous proximate optimum alternatives could be
acquired from the procedure; also these offer supplementary freedom for the
designer to elect a suitable adjoining optimum substitute solution, if so
anticipated.
Explanation:
For a particular type of grade chosen for concrete and steel reinforcement, and
when the seed value is increased, still the objective function does not vary much;
it converges to a single point itself. Also when the variable, diameter of tank is
taken under study, its value also does not vary much. Another conclusion from the
above graph is that, the value of objective function also does not vary much, as
the seed value increases, and at the same time, keeping the variable diameter of
tank as constant.
Also, when increasing the seed value, if the variable, diameter of tank is kept
constant or varied within a range, but if the grade of concrete is increased then the
value of objective function decreases that means it approaches optimum.
In the first table, the grade for concrete used is M30 and that for steel is Fe-415.
As the seed value is increased, the value of optimum objective function is coming
out to be almost the same with an extreme difference of 1.169442%, and also the
value of variable, tank diameter is almost the same.
In the second table, the grade for concrete used is M45 and that for steel is Fe-
415. As the seed value is increased, the value of optimum objective function is
coming out to be almost the same with an extreme difference of 2.32872%, and
also the value of variable, tank diameter is exactly the same.
In these two cases, the value of the variable was varied in a range but still all the
values were nearly the same.
In the third table, the grade for concrete used is M30 and that for steel is Fe-415.
out to be almost the same with an extreme difference of -1.35728%, and also the
In the fourth table, the grade for concrete used is M45 and that for steel is Fe-415.
out to be almost the same with an extreme difference of -1.77195%, and also the
Only the thing was that, that the value of variable tank diameter was kept
constant.
Chapter 7
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Optimum design of water tanks is a complex task. Various search algorithms have
been proposed and attempted. Main concerns are to achieve the optimal solution
with the minimum design cost. It leads to value addition to the design so that it
becomes cost effective and helps in profit maximization.
Evolutionary algorithms have been around since the early sixties. They apply the
rules of nature: evolution through selection of the fittest individuals, the
individuals representing solutions to a mathematical problem. One of the potential
tools for optimization of water tanks is the genetic algorithm
Genetic Algorithms are easy to apply to a wide range of problems, from

optimization problems like the traveling salesperson problem, to inductive
concept learning, scheduling, and layout problems. The results can be very good
on some problems, and rather poor on others.
If the conception of a computer algorithms being based on the evolutionary of

organism is surprising, the extensiveness with which this algorithms is applied in
so many areas is no less than astonishing. These applications, be they commercial,
educational and scientific, are increasingly dependent on this algorithms, the
Genetic Algorithms. Its usefulness and gracefulness of solving problems has
made it a more favorite choice among the non-traditional methods, namely
gradient search, random search and others. GAs are very helpful when the
developer does not have precise domain expertise, because GAs possess the
ability to explore and learn from their domain.
In future, it would be witnessed that some developments of variants of GAs to tailor

for some very specific tasks. This might defy the very principle of GAs that it is
ignorant of the problem domain when used to solve problem. But we would realize
that this practice could make GAs even more powerful.
The intricacy of the optimum design for reinforced concrete intze type water tank
and the requisite for using genetic algorithms for solving the specified problem
have been conversed. The mathematical formulation for the optimum design of
this problem and other minutiae of the solution route using GAs were presented.
Upshots of several parametric studies done upon the optimum design were
presented and contrasted.
The following individualities were observed:
Efficiency of GA in the solving of optimum design problems that are complex in

nature.
The dependency of the optimum value of objective function on the initial seed
value was quite small.
REFERENCES
Ajagbe, W. O. et al., Comparative Study on the Design of Elevated

Rectangular and Circular Concrete Water Tanks, International Journal of
Engineering Research and Development ISSN: 2278-067X Volume 1,
Issue 1, PP 22-30, May 2012
British Standard Institution, Design of Concrete Structures for Retaining
Aqueous Liquids-Code of Practice, BS 8007:1987
British Standard Institution, Structural Use of Concrete, BS 8110-
1:1997
Chau, K. W., Albermani, F., Genetic Algorithms for Design of Liquid
Retaining Structure, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2358,
2002, pp. 119-128
Gaikwad, M. V., Mangulkar, M. N., Seismic Performance of Circular
Elevated Water Tank with Framed Staging System, International Journal
of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), ISSN
0976 6480(Print), ISSN 0976 6499(Online) Volume 4, Issue 4, May
June (2013), IAEME
Guerra, A., Kiousis, P. D., Design optimization of reinforced concrete
structures , Computers and Concrete, Vol. 3, No. 5 (2006) 313-334
Hirde, S. K. et al., Performance of Elevated Water Tanks subjected to
Wind Forces, IJAET/Vol.II/ Issue II/April-June, 2011/222-230
Indian Standard, Concrete Structures for Storage of Liquids-Code of
Practice (First Revision), IS 3370(Part 1 & 2):2009
Indian Standard, Plain and Reinforced Concrete-Code of Practice (Fourth
Revision), IS 456:2009
Jabar, A. M., Patel, H. S., Seismic Behavior of RC Elevated Water Tank
Under Different Staging Pattern and Earthquake Characteristics,
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue III/April-June, 2012/293-296
Jain, O. P., Krishna, J., Plain and Reinforced Concrete, Volume II,
Eighth Revised Edition, 2007
Kadim, J. A., Jasim, N. A., Optimum Design of Open Reinforced
Concrete Circular Cylindrical Tanks Rest on Ground, Basrah Journal for
Engineering Science /2012
Livaoglu, R., Dogangun, A., Seismic Behavior of Cylindrical Elevated
Tanks with a Frame supporting system on various subsoil, Indian Journal
of Engineering & Materials Sciences, Vol.14, April 2007,pp.133-145
Livaoglu, R., Dogangun, A., Sloshing Response of the Cylindrical
Elevated Tanks with Frame Staging System on Different Soil Conditions,
Flow Induced Vibration, Zolotarev&Horacek eds. Institute of
Thermomechanics, Prague, 2008
Lute, V. et al., Computationally efficient analysis of cable-stayed bridge
for GA-based optimization, Engineering Applications of Artificial
Intelligence 22 (2009) 750758
Lute, V. et al., Genetic Algorithms-Based Optimization of Cable Stayed
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Behavior of Elevated Water Tank, IJAERS/Vol. II/ Issue I/Oct.-
Dec.,2012/64-67
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Rao, S. S., Engineering Optimization Theory and Practice, Third Edition

Intze Type Water Tank

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PARAMETRIC STUDIES ON DESIGN OF WATER

TANKS USING GENETIC ALGORITHM

Ms. NITYA PATEL

Dr. AKHIL UPADHYAY

I acquire immense pleasure in submitting this dissertation report on Parametric

A ton thanks to my guide Dr. AkhilUpadhyay, Professor, Structural Engineering

I owe heartiest thanks to all my friends whose constructive advice helped me in

Structural optimization is a broad interdisciplinary sphere which entails expertise

Genetic algorithms have been developed to assist in searching through complex

Direct or flexural tension in concrete arising from

may cause cracking.

Temperature and moisture effects

may cause cracking.

The tensile strength of concrete is approximately 10 percent of the compressive

The impetus of proffering elevated reinforced concrete water tanks is simply to

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF

For covering peaks during demand

Accordingly, the classification under these three heads is done as follows:

These can resist hydrostatic forces efficiently

Ajagbe, W. O. et al., (2012), scrutinized the proficiency of the Rectangular and

Thirdly, when the classification on the basis of material of construction is taken

Sameer, R. et al., (2012), presented a Comparative study on R.C.C. water tanks

2.2 Intze tank

2.2.1 Behavior of Intze tank

2.2.2 Components of Intze tank

The analysis of the intze tank is done by two methods:

Top ring beam:

Bottom ring beam:

Sloshing behavior is also observed in elevated tanks. When a tank containing

Patel, C. N. et al.,(2012), considered a reinforced concrete elevated water tank

A famous quote of Dante

All that is superfluous displeases GOD and NATURE

All that displeases GOD and NATURE is evil.

This whole scheme can be easily exhibited as a function of explicit decision

The aspect of cost optimization should be undergone at various stages of the

3.1 Engineering applications of optimization

Designing the aerospace structures and aircraft for minimum weight

3.2 Issues involved in optimization

Statement of an optimization problem

An optimization problem can be stated as shown below:

X n-dimensional vector called design vector

F(X) objective function

gj(X) inequality constraint

lj(X) equality constraint

The above stated problem is the constrained optimization problem. Sometimes,

A set of quantities required for defining any engineering system or component

Constraints representing limitations on the behavior or performance of the system

Let us take an optimization problem with only inequality constraints gj(X) 0.

Free and acceptable point

3.3 Need for Optimization

For designing an efficient and a cost-effective system without compromising for

The figure below denotes a self-explanatory flowchart for conventional and

Analysis of system is required by both the methods as indicated by block 3.

Many practical optimum design problems are characterized by mixed continuous-

Technically speaking, Genetic Algorithms are the heuristic search and

4.1.2 Some basic terms

Any possible solution can be considered as an individual.

Set of design points at the current iteration representing a group of designs

A generation is simply an iteration of the genetic algorithm.

Search space can be defined as all possible solutions to a specific problem.

Represents a design point of the system, may it be feasible or infeasible.

Traits are basically the possible aspects of an individual.

Alleles are the possible settings of trait (black, blond, etc.).

A locus is the position of a gene on the chromosome.