An investigation of design variable ranges in optimum design of reinforced concrete members

In the optimum design of reinforced concrete (RC) members, the design requirements and composite behavior of concrete and steel make the problem a nonlinear one that can be only solved via numerical iterations. In that case, the best option for these problems is to use a metaheuristic algorithm. In this study, a design variable that is the height of the RC members is investigated for the different maximum value cases, because the optimum design tends to maximize this value to increase the moment capacity of the member by directly increasing the length of the moment arm distance of the force acting from steel rebar having more cost than concrete.