A Parametric Study of Optimum Road Modular Hinged Frames by Hybrid Metaheuristics

This paper addresses a study of cost-optimal road modular hinged frames. The performance of three hybrid metaheuristics is assessed through a fractional factorial design of experiments. The results allow for selecting and calibrating the hybrid simulated annealing to solve the combinatorial optimization problem. By varying the horizontal span from 8 to 16 meters and the earth cover from 1 to 5 meters, 25 different structural configurations are studied. The calibrated methodology is applied to obtain nine different frames with optimal costs for each configuration. The study of the economic, environmental and geometrical characteristics of the 225 optimum structures allows for the development of a regression analysis. With R2 correlation coefficients close to the unit, the expressions form a valuable tool for calculating the final cost, associated emissions, embodied energy and particular geometric characteristics. The optimum structures present slender and densely reinforced designs. In addition, some structures show considerable reductions in the shear reinforcement, something solved by localized increases in longitudinal reinforcement.