Seismic Design Optimization of Steel Frames with Steel Shear Wall System Using Modified Dolphin Algorithm

The first step in any successful design of a structure is selecting the exact and accurate designing method. Designing a structure most economically (i.e. materials such as steel and concrete) by satisfying seismic and gravity criteria based on codes of practice is a complicated procedure that requires not only technical engineering knowledge but also years of experience. Thus, this paper presents an efficient and reliable approach to obtain the optimum design in steel frames with shear walls as the main seismic bearing component. The main objective is to use a modified dolphin echolocation algorithm with a multi-variability ability approach in achieving the optimized results. This approach represents the best positioning option for steel shear walls in elevations, spans, and dimensions of the elements. According to modifications applied to the algorithm, the computational time decreases, and the results are highly accurate. The designed structures with the minimum amount of steel satisfy all the requirements in the seismic design and steel structures design code, and the results of this work are entirely efficient. This efficiency is illustrated by three numerical examples. The results illustrated the superiority of the metaheuristic approach over the standard procedure. Besides, considering the weight of shear wall for the first time led to the 10% reduction of the weight of the structure.