Minimizing concrete consumption in slabs by optimizing column locations

Abstract

Reducing concrete consumption is important as part of the global effort of fighting the climate change, and specifically in concrete flat slabs as these are among the largest cement consumers. In this study we investigate the sensitivity of flat slabs’ thickness to the column locations and search for optimal column layouts. We develop an efficient gradient-based optimization of column locations, that minimizes the slabs’ thickness with constraints on the deflections, moments, and shear forces. The results show that the columns’ optimal locations are not trivial and that the slab thickness is very sensitive to the columns’ exact locations. Thus, concrete savings in slabs of up to 20% are possible with minor modification to traditional layouts of columns, and up to 50% with more pronounced updates, which emphasizes the importance of early collaboration between architects and engineers. The results expose the critical trade-off between structural efficiency and architectural freedom and demonstrate the potential of formal optimization in structural design.