Journal of Cleaner Production: Muhammad Afzal, Yuhan Liu, Jack C.P. Cheng, Vincent J.L. Gan

Journal of Cleaner Production 260 (2020) 120623
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
Review
Reinforced concrete structural design optimization: A critical review

Muhammad Afzal, Yuhan Liu, Jack C.P. Cheng**, Vincent J.L. Gan*
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Building design optimization plays an important role in maximizing the reliability, cost efficiency, and
Received 20 August 2019 environmental sustainability of constructed facilities. As the construction of reinforced concrete (RC)
Received in revised form structures consumed tremendous amounts of steel reinforcement and concrete, RC structural design
25 January 2020
optimization for minimal environmental impact has attracted increasing attentions from academics and
Accepted 15 February 2020
Available online 21 February 2020
industry in recent years. Nowadays, new information technologies and computing techniques were
increasingly utilized for the sustainable design and optimization of RC structures to maximize energy
Handling Editor: Prof. Jiri Jaromir Klemes efficiency, but it still lacks a critical review to summarize the common research themes and highlight the
future needs in this field. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to critically review the previous
Keywords: research related to the computational design optimization of RC structures for the minimum environ-
Critical review mental impact, with the aim of highlighting the present status and future trends for the advancement of
Environmental sustainability building design optimization. First, the general introduction and background for importance of multi-
Optimization strategy disciplinary detailed design optimization of RC structures are described. Thereafter, a critical review of
Reinforcement optimization
available research objectives, structural components, optimization strategies, and the use of different
Reinforced concrete
computational tools in RC structural design optimization to integrate sustainability in constructional
Structural design
design stage, is provided in this paper. Furthermore, different research trends are analyzed and critically
discussed in detail. Potential research directions to better quantify and evaluate the implementation of
detailed RC structural design optimization are presented. This paper can assist structural design prac-
titioners in academia and industry to introduce new horizons of sustainable construction by considering
multiple aspects of detailed RC structural design and combining several computational tools with
optimization strategies.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Literature retrieval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Categorization process and statistical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Findings and discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Research trends and domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1.1. General trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1.2. Geographical trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.3. Trends of adoption of regional specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2.1. Overview of RC detailed design optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
* Corresponding author. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong
Kong, China.
** Corresponding author. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong
Kong, China.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J.C.P. Cheng), [email protected] (V.J.L. Gan).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120623
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 M. Afzal et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 260 (2020) 120623
3.2.2. Scope of design optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3.2.3. Formulation of optimal design problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2.4. Optimization techniques and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2.5. Computational tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4. Research gaps and future recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1. Performance-based design (PBD) optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2. Clash free steel reinforcement optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.3. Multi-objective optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.4. Design for complex and irregular RC components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.5. Improving the performance of optimization strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.6. Concentration of reinforcement detailing in Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Declaration of competing interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1. Introduction environmental performance of RC structures suggesting various

design alternatives to achieve the sustainable design of RC buildings
Reinforced concrete (RC) is a composite material commonly and infrastructures (Eleftheriadis et al., 2017; Yousuf et al., 2017). It is
used for buildings and civil infrastructures, in which reinforcing not wrong to say that, environmental sustainability criteria during
steel is embedded in concrete to resist forces. Consequently, the structural detailed design have attracted dramatically increasing
global annual production of reinforced concrete approached more interest, particularly during the early design stages.
than 10 billion cubic meters in total in 2012 (Miller et al., 2016), One of the key objectives of RC structural design optimization is
which consumed significant amounts of natural resources and to minimize the overall total cost of RC structures (Chutani and
produced considerable impacts on the environment (Van Damme, Singh, 2018; Esfandiary et al., 2016). Structural designers and
2018). Concrete and steel reinforcement are the major constitu- practitioners were found to be keenly interested in automatically
ents contributing to the total weight of RC structures. Therefore, optimizing the early design and construction stages for minimal
attempts have been made in the past few decades to optimize use of construction materials. This interest finally results in cost
different kinds of RC structures and RC components, aiming to efficiency as it represents the best interests of stakeholders in Ar-
minimize the demand for concrete and steel reinforcement. chitecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. There-
In recent times, there has been growing interests in incorporating fore, studies on the optimization for minimum weight of RC
important factor of environmental sustainability of RC structures structures by minimizing the amount of construction materials
while computationally optimizing the design. Due to this advance- (especially steel reinforcement) (Prakash et al., 1988) and associ-
ment, some developed countries put effort into investigating the key ated cost minimization (Kanagasundaram and Karihaloo, 1991b)
factors governing sustainability enhancement (Ding, 2008). Green- were performed previously. The combined and integrated frame-
house gas (GHG) emissions and embodied energy are recently work with computational tools to automatically minimize the steel
considered in the structural design optimization process. While reinforcement material in RC frame structures (Govindaraj and
there have been different strategies for GHG reduction (Sepehri et al., Ramasamy, 2007; Mangal and Cheng, 2018) has shown the po-
2020), there is a growing interest on the computational design tentials to significantly reduce the material usage. A comprehensive
optimization towards more energy efficient low carbon buildings picture of minimizing the amount of total steel reinforcement
(Gan et al., 2020). Sustainable design optimization of RC structures during RC structural detailed design optimization was also pro-
was implemented from different perspectives including the choice of posed by Kirsch (1983), thus increasing the overall cost efficiency
construction materials, selection of indoor setpoints (for minimal and environmental efficiency by reducing material waste.
energy use) (Kofoworola and Gheewala, 2008), and optimization of The dramatical increase in parameters important enough to be
structural systems (Gan et al., 2019b) etc. The embodied CO2 emis- considered during structural design optimization, has exponen-
sions of plain concrete range substantially from 100 to 450 kg CO2-e/ tially increased the need for introducing the automated system
m3 due to the addition of supplementary cementitious materials operations. Due to the popularity of applying optimization tech-
(SCM) and the change of strength (Gan et al., 2019a). Harrison et al. nologies in RC structural design for environmental efficiency, there
(2010) used 0.13 kg CO2-e/kg to represent plain concrete and 0.24 kg are many review articles summarizing the state-of-the-art litera-
CO2-e/kg for additional CO2 emissions of 2% reinforcing steel. Due to ture. For example, Sarma and Adeli (1998) reviewed studies on cost
the large discrepancy, efforts have previously been conducted on the optimization of both RC frame structures and individual compo-
minimization of carbon emissions stretching from low-rise to high- nents and other RC infrastructure. Fragiadakis and Lagaros (2011)
rise residential and commercial RC building structures (Foraboschi reviewed and compared alternative design formulations for struc-
et al., 2014; Gan et al., 2019a) using different parametric design tural optimization frameworks which contribute to seismic design
strategies. The studies have leveraged the integration of computa- efficiencies. Furthermore, Yang et al. (2016) briefly reviewed the
tional and parametric design approaches to optimize the embodied application of metaheuristic algorithms for design optimization of
carbon emissions for sustainable design. Both individual RC struc- civil engineering problems. A review study on available practices
tural components, such as beams, columns, foundations, floor slabs, and applications of structural design optimization (Cohn and
shear walls, and retaining walls as well as entire RC frame structures Dinovitzer, 1994) and a comprehensive review on emerging artifi-
were optimized for different objectives of their environmental per- cial intelligence techniques in structural engineering design opti-
formance during the detailed design stage. Most recently, cost mization (Salehi and Burguen ~ o, 2018) were also performed.
parameter has been noticed in combination with optimization of Extensive review studies on embodied carbon optimization
material consumption (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018b) and (Akbarnezhad and Xiao, 2017), building sustainability (Evins, 2013),
M. Afzal et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 260 (2020) 120623 3
and assessment of green building using Building Information Library, Willey Online Library, Emerald, Science Direct, and Web of
Modeling (BIM) (Lu et al., 2017) were also undertaken in the same Sciences (WoS) etc. The keywords combinations utilized to search
context. Although a substantial number of previous reviews were for the published articles include: cost optimization, optimal
published in the RC structural design optimization domain, they design, minimum cost, steel reinforcement, embodied carbon
either focused on a particular aspect of RC structural design opti- optimization, life cycle cost, sustainable design, and RC or rein-
mization (e.g. embodied carbon) or specific kinds of computational forced concrete structures, which are sufficient to cover the most of
techniques in solving structural engineering problems. None of the articles in this domain.
available surveys achieved a comprehensive view of multiple as- Sample collection was then performed through search and
pects in computationally driven detailed design optimization of RC segregation of research articles through a couple of rounds. After
structures for sustainable design, as it is the intention of this review searching by keywords, a portfolio of more than 450 original
paper. Moreover, despite having considerable importance among research articles, reviews, conference proceedings, book chapters,
recent research studies, optimization for the sustainable design of and published theses was acquired. The retrieved articles were
RC structures (such as steel reinforcement reduction) has not been then classified by document types and further analyzed to make
critically reviewed so far. As steel reinforcement contributes a sig- sure whether they met subject matter inclusion criteria or not.
nificant portion of the total construction material cost, the detailed During content analysis, the outcome returned 348 research arti-
and more specifically, computationally driven sustainable design cles retrieved from more than 86 journals available for further
optimization of steel reinforcement configurations has grabbed the refinement and categorization process. In the next round, research
significant attention among researchers and industry practitioners. articles were read and analyzed thoroughly thus ensuring that the
Therefore, this paper aims to critically review the state-of-the- selected articles were relevant to the concerned scope of this study.
art literature on the optimization of RC structures for environ- Finally, selected articles were segregated into the specific categories
mental efficiency, with more focus on the automated detailed according to the objectives of research for further analyses.
design optimization of RC structures. A step by step holistic
methodology was adopted to retrieve the available literature from
databases using keywords and then selected articles were divided 2.2. Categorization process and statistical analysis
into four common research themes. These research themes incor-
porate the multiple objectives of optimization used in available The categorization process was performed in such a way that the
research to deliver more comprehensive insights to the current selected articles were further divided into four common research
research status, potential research areas for future studies and themes according to their main research objectives as shown in
anticipated future research directions. This paper also provides Fig. 1.
proportionately a complete picture of the available related research
which has been done so far, as well as the research which is C1 Material efficiency: Optimize detailed design of RC structures
currently under way. The information in available review articles or individual components, with the aim of minimizing the amount
can be enhanced by extending the related research material to one of construction materials (including steel reinforcement) required.
platform; for example, combining the cost, material efficiency and C2 Material and cost efficiency: Optimize detailed design, with
environmentally sustainable research on RC structures together to the aim of minimizing the amount of construction materials and
come up with a schematic review which can provide more insights the associated cost in RC structures.
for future research in related fields. C3 Material efficiency and environmental performance: Opti-
The structure of this review paper is organized as follows. Sec- mize detailed design, with the aim of minimizing the total amount
tion 2 explains the holistic methodology for the literature search of construction materials while maximizing the environmental
with an overview of the collected articles. The trends of timeline, performance (such as carbon emission reduction) of RC structures.
geographical, and adopted regional specifications are reviewed in C4 Sustainable design: Optimize the environmental factors asso-
Section 3. Section 3 also contains intensive critical discussion on the ciated with construction materials, aiming to minimize the amount
scope of optimization of RC structural detailed design, evolution in and cost of construction materials while maximizing the environ-
setting out the research objectives, comparison of results of mental performance of RC structures.
different optimization techniques, and computational tools and
methods used in the context of RC structural detailed design opti- The categorization of themes follows the criteria and aspects
mization. The available research gaps and recommended potential that are set as the main objective(s) to perform optimization for
future research directions are elaborated in Section 4. Lastly, Sec- detailed design of RC structures. These aspects can be termed as
tion 5 summarizes and concludes the paper. sub-themes as provided above in the form of C1, C2, C3, and C4.
Table 1 represents a summary of the underlying research themes,
2. Methodology sub-themes, and a few of the corresponding literature from the
selected articles for the further categorization process.
This study takes a holistic approach to support a comprehensive The top ten journals with relatively more research articles in the
overview of the state-of-the-art research applied to the literature RC structural optimization are: (1) Journal of Structural Engineering,
review on RC structural detailing design optimization from 1974 ASCE; (2) Engineering Structures; (3) Computers and Structures; (4)
(when the first related research article was found) to 2018. Fig. 1 Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization; (5) Journal of Cleaner
depicts the systematic step-by-step approach in performing the Production; (6) Energy and Buildings; (7) Structural Optimization; (8)
literature retrieval from digital databases and indexing, categori- International Journal of Optimization in Civil Engineering; (9) Engi-
zation process, and statistical analysis. neering Optimization; and (10) Earthquake Engineering and Structural
Dynamics. Fig. 2 presents the overall statistical overview of the
2.1. Literature retrieval collected articles, whereas Fig. 3 reveals the number of retrieved
articles among all the research theme categories in major journals.
The method for literature retrieval is based on the domain of RC Each publication from the 348 articles was further analyzed to
structural detailing design optimization published in major litera- determine the yearly trends, geographical locations, and adopted
ture databases like Google Scholar, Scopus, Taylor and Francis, ASCE regional specifications.
Fig. 1. Research approach framework describing the procedural steps involved in literature & indexing, mathematical & statistical analysis, and research theme categorization.
3. Findings and discussion consistently come up with the largest number of 232 publications
(67%) within the study period. On the other hand, C3 and C4 ac-
3.1. Research trends and domains count for 42 and 40 published papers (12% each), respectively.
Fig. 4(a) represents the total and individual number of research
3.1.1. General trends publications on detailed design optimization of RC structures in
As a total of 348 published articles in detailed design optimi- each research theme category during the studied period.
zation of RC structures were obtained, it was clearly seen that the The temporal distribution of C1 publications is consistent with
number of articles has experienced a considerable increase over the the overall trend of RC structural detailing design optimization
past few decades, from 1 publication in 1974 to 38 publications in research which gradually increases from 2 articles in 2009 to 4
2018, among all four categories. Based on this, it can be argued that articles in 2018. The overall tendency of this research theme cate-
the number of publications will certainly increase in the future due gory follows the global upward trend except between 2010-2011
to the growing interest of both academia and industry in detailed and 2012e2013 which implies a notable growing interest of recent
design optimization, considering different multidisciplinary as- studies as shown in Fig. 4(b). Many of these studies focused on the
pects. Concerning the total publications per category, the least minimization of steel reinforcement and concrete amount during
studied topic is material efficiency i.e. C1 which only accounts for the detailed design process of RC structures. This included the
32 articles (9%), whereas material and cost efficiency i.e. C2 optimization for minimum weight of RC structures (Oh et al., 2016),
Table 1
Categorized research themes in the domain of RC structural design optimization and a few of corresponding research articles from the total of 348 retrieved research
publications.
Category Category theme Theme description Relevant literature
C1 Material efficiency Optimization for detailed design of RC structures was carried out, (Ahmed and Datta, 1984); (Al-Mosawi and Saka, 1999); (Borkowski,
mainly to minimize the amount of construction materials i.e. steel 1977); (Mangal and Cheng, 2018); (Yepes et al., 2015a,b); (Kaveh and
reinforcement and concrete Talatahari, 2012); (Kaveh and Talatahari, 2010); (Ferreira et al.,
2003); (Porwal and Hewage, 2012); (Rajeev and Krishnamoorthy,
1998); (Rafiq and Southcombe, 1998); (Yeh and Chen, 2012);
(Nigdeli et al., 2015); (Lee et al., 2009); (Hoseini Vaez and
Shahmoradi Qomi, 2018); (Gil-Martín et al., 2010); (Park et al.,
2016); (Sharma and Pandit, 1988)
C2 Material and cost Optimization for detailed design of RC structures was carried out, (Li et al., 2010a); (Li et al., 2010b); (Amir, 2013); (Aldwaik and Adeli,
efficiency mainly to minimize the cost associated with steel reinforcement, 2014); (Kwak and Kim, 2009); (Moharrami and Grierson, 1993);
concrete, formwork, labor, material fabrication, transportation, and (Sarma and Adeli, 1998); (Fadaee and Grierson, 1996); (Kaveh and
installation etc. Behnam, 2013); (Lee and Ahn, 2003); (Camp et al., 2003);
(Koumousis and Arsenis, 1998); (Akin and Saka, 2015); (Sharafi et al.,
2012); (Sa nchez-Olivares and Toma s, 2017); (Paya et al., 2008);
(Chutani and Singh, 2017); (Kaveh and Sabzi, 2012b); (Esfandiari
et al., 2018a); (Balling and Yao, 1997); (Tomei et al., 2018);
(Esfandiari et al., 2018b); (Gholizadeh and Aligholizadeh, 2013);
(Govindaraj and Ramasamy, 2007); (Liang et al., 2000); (Shin et al.,
2012); (Perera and Varona, 2009); (Prakash et al., 1988); (Coello
Coello et al., 1997); (Fedghouche and Tiliouine, 2012); (Cohn and
Lounis, 1994); (Adamu and Karihaloo, 1995); (Bouassida and Carter,
2014); (Camp and Akin, 2012); (Kaveh and Shakouri Mahmud Abadi,
2011); (Gandomi et al., 2015); (Atabay, 2009); (Atabay and Gulay,
2009); (Ahmadkhanlou and Adeli, 2005b); (Ghandi et al., 2017)
C3 Material efficiency Optimization for detailed design of RC structures was carried out, (Gan et al., 2017b); (Pal et al., 2017b); (Pal et al., 2017a); (Marzouk
and environmental mainly to minimize the materials amount and to enhance associated et al., 2018); (Dossche et al., 2018); (Choi et al., 2017); (Gan et al.,
performance environmental performance 2017c); (Iddon and Firth, 2013); (Wang et al., 2018); (Tae et al.,
2011); (Hou et al., 2015); (Foraboschi et al., 2014); (Gan et al., 2018);
(Park et al., 2013); (Yoon et al., 2018); (Molina-Moreno et al., 2017);
(Miller et al., 2015); (Ferreiro-Cabello et al., 2018); (Fraile-Garcia
et al., 2016); (Huberman et al., 2015)
C4 Sustainable design Optimization for detailed design of RC structures was carried out, (Wang et al., 2005a); (Wang et al., 2005b); (Kim et al., 2013); (Gan
mainly to maximize the multidisciplinary overall performances i.e. et al., 2017a); (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018b); (Camp and Huq, 2013);
material minimization, cost efficiency, and environmental (Paya-Zaforteza et al., 2009); (Nadoushani and Akbarnezhad, 2015);
performances (Oh et al., 2017); (Azzouz et al., 2017); (Mitropoulou et al., 2011);
(Yeo and Potra, 2013); (Yeo and Gabbai, 2011); (Goggins et al., 2010);
(Nadoushani et al., 2017); (Nadoushani et al., 2018); (Yepes et al.,
2015a,b); (Park et al., 2014); (de Medeiros and Kripka, 2014); (Camp
and Assadollahi, 2013); (Zastrow et al., 2017); (Eleftheriadis et al.,
2018c); (Fernandez-Ceniceros et al., 2013); (Kaveh, 2017)
Fig. 2. Number of collected articles in each research theme category.
automated steel reinforcement optimization (Mangal and Cheng, Hewage, 2012) for detailed design of RC structures. Optimization
2018), and minimization of the rebar waste rate (Porwal and for minimal steel reinforcement amount was also performed for
Fig. 3. Number of collected articles appeared in major journals in each research theme category of RC structural detailed design optimization.
individual RC structural components, including beams (Ferreira maintenance considering the environmental impacts (Itoh et al.,
et al., 2003; Yeh and Chen, 2012), columns (Lee et al., 2009), 2001), portraying the involvement of environmental sustainabil-
shear walls (Al-Mosawi and Saka, 1999), and slabs (Borkowski, ity criteria into detailed RC structural design optimization. Most of
1977). The characteristic distribution of C2 publications is consis- the research articles falling in these theme categories (C3, C4) were
tent with that started earlier in 1977, with only 1 article and considering environmentally sustainable parameters such as
gradually reaching to 17 articles in 2018. This category of research embodied energy, embodied carbon, building envelope, operating
theme accounts for the highest fraction of the total number of 232 energy efficiency, recycled material, and structural system alter-
publications out of the total portfolio of 348 collected articles. The natives as the main objectives of the research.
trend of this research theme is followed by a steep increase after a It is important to express brief insights on how different design
considerable number of articles focused on the minimization of aspects were involved to allow researchers to integrate these as-
both materials and associated cost during the detailing design pects into their studies at different stages. A step by step evolution
optimization of RC structures. This associated cost includes the cost in considering detailed RC structural design optimization aspects,
of steel reinforcement, concrete, labor/formwork, material fabri- from fundamental to advanced levels, is already presented in the
cation, transportation, and installation costs to be minimized in RC form of research themes. RC structural design started from tradi-
structures (Chutani and Singh, 2017; Reddy et al., 1993) using a tional approaches which usually resulted in error-prone, time
wide range of optimization techniques. A sound concentration of consuming, and tedious outcomes (Mangal and Cheng, 2018). The
researchers was seen in the 21st century when life cycle carbon computer practices in structural design and analysis led designer's
emissions and life cycle cost analysis were proposed for bridge preferences to achieve not only low weight structures but also
Fig. 4. (a) Percentage of collected articles reported in each research theme category, and (b) number of the collected articles in each research theme category for each year.
practically economical products (Kaveh and Behnam, 2013). The seismicity can lead researchers to concentrate on specific aspects of
integration of optimization approaches then took the design pro- research directions; for example, countries including Spain, USA,
cess to another level in terms of cost optimization of RC structural South Korea, and China are focusing more on research theme C4 as
frames (Kirsch, 1983), multilevel structural optimization (Jaafari, most of these countries fall in seismically active zones. The regional
1988), material efficiency (Bekdaş, 2014), and detailed steel rein- design specifications in these countries probably have incentives to
forcement efficiency (Mangal and Cheng, 2018). Recently, the in- integrate environmental considerations during the early design
clusion of environmental aspects makes the RC structural design stages, construction procurement phases, and up to the life cycle
optimization more sustainable and eco-friendly. performance of RC structures.
3.1.2. Geographical trends 3.1.3. Trends of adoption of regional specifications

The relatively higher number of articles found in the Most of the retrieved researches on RC structural design opti-
geographical region might be the result of higher funding resources mization have followed regional specifications to fulfill the design
available from government and private industrial sectors for car- requirements to ensure the required building performance. These
rying out the research in specific directions (Olawumi et al., 2017). specifications served as constraints during the optimization process
Fig. 5(a) shows the distribution trends of retrieved publications that to increase the practicality of the results. Normally, structural in-
are geographically classified. A similar mapping representation stitutions and/or special governmental departments in a region
approach of the available research, using terms like “geographical often specify RC structural design specifications to follow during
scope” and “research origin”, was previously used by authors in the initial design phase. Some of the commonly adopted regional
(Neto et al., 2016; Olawumi et al., 2017). Consistent with the higher specifications include ACI Codes for Concrete (Shahnewaz et al.,
number of publications as contributions from Asian and European 2016), Eurocodes 2 (Quaranta et al., 2014), Indian Standards (IS-
countries, these regions have shown a major increase over the past 456) (Govindaraj and Ramasamy, 2005), Australian Codes
few decades. This implies that they have shown greater interests in (Kanagasundaram and Karihaloo, 1991a), Spanish Structural Con-
cost, material, and environmental sustainability aspects for RC crete Code (EHE for Concrete and IAP for Steel Infrastructure) (Yepes
structural design optimization. The second largest number of et al., 2015a,b), British Standards (BS) (Ceranic and Fryer, 2000),
published articles were recovered from the USA and Canadian Canadian Standards (Shahnewaz et al., 2016), Uniform Building
research institutions. The authors of the earliest research article Codes (UBC) (Gustavsson et al., 2006), AASHTO (Chen et al., 2009),
(Bond, 1974) in 1974 were from Belfast, Northern Ireland and journal Brazilian Standards (NBR) (Kripka et al., 2015), Model Codes (MC90)
publishing this research was Engineering Optimization. (Ferreira et al., 2003), and Korean Standard Codes (Oh et al., 2016) for
Fig. 5(b) depicts the major contribution trend of publications concrete design and Eurocodes 8 (Mitropoulou et al., 2011) for
appeared in individual country. The involvement of European seismic design of concrete structures.
Countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Turkey, and Portugal) It is clear from the Fig. 6 that most of the research studies,
and the UK in all research themes is quite significant. Countries and despite different geographical regions and their institutional affil-
regions of Asia Pacific including India, Mainland China, South Korea, iations, have followed ACI specifications for RC structural design
Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand have seen actively partici- optimization. It also reflects the higher concentration of publica-
pating in executing research activities in the subject context. tions in research theme categories with corresponding adopted
Additionally, Australia also possesses quite a significant number of regional design specifications. In order to avoid clumsiness, only
research publications among all four research themes. The statis- higher numbers of articles that appeared in respective country/
tical information shows that in the USA, there are 4, 33, 1, and 7 countries in each individual regional design specification are pre-
research articles found in research themes C1, C2, C3, and C4, sented. There is a total of 124 articles that followed ACI specifica-
respectively, while a moderate number of articles is seen among tions, among which 11 articles are from research theme C1 while
Canada and Brazil. The countries with collectively higher numbers 98, 1, and 14 articles from C2, C3, and C4 respectively. An important
of research publications among all research themes are Iran, USA, factor that affects implementation of regional structural concrete
Turkey, India, Spain, and Australia. Iranian institutions were found to and other related codes is that, in some countries, only the regional
publish a higher number of articles among the four research government has the authority to enforce the employment of these
themes. It is argued that geographical locations and environmental specifications. Most of the available articles from research theme C4
Fig. 5. (a) Distribution of trends by geographical region, and (b) distribution of number of the collected articles per country in each research theme category.
Fig. 6. Trends and number of collected articles adopting several regional specifications in each research theme category.
followed ACI specifications (14 articles), Spanish Codes (13 articles), clearly shown in Fig. 7. This trend shows a significant number of 152
and Eurocodes (3 articles). The extent of code coverage varies publications that are concerned with optimizing RC frame struc-
significantly between countries; for example, Korean Standards for tures for various objectives. Most of the previous studies by far are
building energy mainly focuses on large buildings with high energy still limited to a few structural components including beams, col-
loads, whereas in the USA, the code applies to all building types. umns, slabs, foundations, shear walls, and rectangular sections, except
Based on available statistics, it can be concluded that the ACI, RC underground utilities, subways, elevator shafts, membranes, cir-
Spanish Codes, Eurocodes, and Korean Standards have integrated cular, spiral and irregular sections etc. that have yet to be explored. In
environmental sustainability concerns that should be followed addition, most of these studies were focusing on low-rise RC frame
during detailed structural design due to the vulnerability of their structures (Kwak and Kim, 2008) and a few studies have considered
geographical topographies. This would therefore ensure a better high-rise frame structures (Aldwaik and Adeli, 2014), whereas quite
and long-term performance of new as well as existing RC a few studies were found for infrastructures (Martínez et al., 2010;
structures. Perea et al., 2008) in this context. Relatively simple and two-
dimensional RC structural geometries have received much atten-
3.2. Discussion tion but very little attention was given to the three-dimensional
and complex structures.
3.2.1. Overview of RC detailed design optimization Another important extent to the design optimization context is
This review paper expands each of the most important points in the material interaction associated with the detailing design opti-
detailed design optimization of RC structures, namely (1) scope of mization of RC structures which can be ranged from steel-concrete
design optimization, (2) formulation of optimal design problem, (3) adhesion to the use of alternative (or recycled) materials
optimization techniques and methods, and (4) computational tools (Papavasileiou and Charmpis, 2016). One of the main factors among
assisting in solving problems. Each of these points, as a discrete others to affect the seismic reliability response during the design
section of this review study, is discussed in the subject of examples optimization of RC structures, is the material properties of the
and references from the retrieved state-of-the-art literature. structures (Khatibinia et al., 2015). Different construction materials
perform different functionalities throughout the structure's life
3.2.2. Scope of design optimization cycle during the stages of production, construction, usage, and end-
This section discusses the frequently considered optimization of-life, and therefore it is critical to investigate how the potential
factors and aspects in previous studies on detailed design optimi- cost and embodied energy trade-offs are to be assessed within the
zation of RC structures. It is of vital importance to define the scope proposed optimization model (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018b). It is
and purpose of optimization in the form of objective function and noted that bond stress between concrete and steel reinforcement is
then solution method. A wide variety of RC structures and com- noticeably decreased by increasing the proportion of recycled
ponents, including orientation-wise (horizontal and vertical com- coarse aggregate (Seara-Paz et al., 2014). Consequently, bonded
ponents) components, super-structure and sub-structure steel reinforcement-concrete adhesion and corrosion effects
components, flexural and shear components, and load-bearing intrigue the decision makers explore for various other materials
components, etc. has been previously considered. These compo- subjected to different design constraints within the context of
nents are prone to different loading and environmental conditions seismic and reliability-based multi-objective design optimization
which directly affect the shape, size, reinforcement layout and of RC building and infrastructures (Sajedi et al., 2017).
configurations, thus attracting the interest of researchers to study The scope of optimization of individual RC component often
the relative design of either individual components or whole entails sizing optimization (Choi et al., 2017), shape optimization
structures. The trend of adopting different RC components for (Rath et al., 1999), and topology optimization (Aydın and Ayvaz,
detailed design optimization among all four research themes is 2010). It is noted that the goal of sizing optimization is applied
Fig. 7. Reinforced concrete structural components with number of collected articles in each research theme category.
when large structures with repeated individual components are multiple parameters have been consulted by researchers. Imple-
concerned, which often investigate the optimal geometries for the mentation of metaheuristic algorithms to solve such multi-
cross-sections of individual components. In terms of shape opti- objective problems that include multiple nonlinear relationships,
mization, the structures and/or individual components are trans- is often the choice. The modern metaheuristic algorithms seeks
formed to find the optimal solution. The goal for the optimization of intensive computational time and robust coding to solve large
individual components could be to reduce the amount of materials structural engineering problems (S anchez-Olivares and Toma s,
for light-weight structures, and to find the optimal locations of 2017). For instance, some studies have included both cost and
certain components for targeted performance. In the topology associated environmental impacts into their objectives (Ferreiro-
optimization of individual components, the material use is mini- Cabello et al., 2018) while others aimed at including multiple as-
mized from the locations where it is not needed and vice versa pects collectively to the objective function (Oh et al., 2017). Yeo and
while satisfying the structural performance. Different components Gabbai (2011) have described an objective formulation to deter-
reflect different layouts and configurations of reinforcement bars. mine a feasible design for rectangular cross-sections of RC contin-
In columns, there are only longitudinal vertical bars and shear uous beams that minimizes the total cost and associated total
stirrups, whereas in flexural horizontal members, such as beams, embodied energy. Only continuous variables including beam width,
there are bars of multiple shapes including bent up bars, straight beam height, longitudinal reinforcement and shear reinforcement
bars, and shear stirrups. were considered, while parameters such as rebar positioning and
Based on different arrangements of steel reinforcement and the selection of rebar diameters were not considered due to their
complexity of the reinforcement configuration, this review paper discrete nature. It was primarily done due to the problem nature
collects information from previous studies concerning different RC and for the sake of simplicity in the design search space instead of
structural components. It is notable that not a single research dealing with both continuous and discrete variables.
article was retrieved from research theme C1 that is concerning The formulation of an objective function depends on the
about foundations, retaining walls, and bridge structures. These required performance against applicable constraints in searching
components contain complex reinforcement arrangements which for optimum solutions within the search space. That is why, during
can be considered for future studies for the respective research formulation of the problem set, it is of prime importance to eval-
themes. Moreover, the environmental efficiency factor has not yet uate the difference between the aspects to be either considered as
fully considered in the optimization of RC beams and shear walls. constraints or objective functions. For example, constructability of
Beams and shear walls are often located inside or hidden in a steel reinforcement bars in actual site procurement was considered
structure instead of being directly exposed to the outside envi- as a penalty function to tackle steel reinforcement complexity is-
ronment, making them less focused in the optimization of envi- sues (Mangal and Cheng, 2018), whereas the constructability was
ronmental efficiency. The basic purpose of this statistical scope is to set as constraint in the structural optimization of slab reinforce-
reflect a clear research area to be considered for several undealt RC ment (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c). On the other hand, it was the main
structural components in undertaking detailed RC structural design study target to be diagnosed automatically for congestion and
optimization. complexity of steel reinforcement bars in RC beams (Navon et al.,
2000). In order to perceive optimal design solutions, the relative
3.2.3. Formulation of optimal design problem values of the most important parameters should be chosen as
Problem formulation consists of defining the design variables, variables, whereas the desired aspects as model of objective func-
objective function(s) and constraints within the problem search tion. For example, although the cost function was the sum of cost of
space. The term objective can represent the quantification of the concrete, steel reinforcement, and formwork but the design vari-
desired result for the given problem to be optimized, which can be a ables were only related to detailed reinforcement because of their
minimization or maximization problem. Its objective could be higher varying impact (Rajeev and Krishnamoorthy, 1998). The
either single or multiple based on the scope definition. Given that reason for such a formulation was because of the difficulty in
the detailed design optimization involves multiple competing computing the exact amount of reinforcement as it could only be
criteria, more recent research studies have considered multi- retrieved after detailing was completed. The computation of the
objective problems in which trade-offs or competition between concrete and formwork cost was trivial once the geometrical
information of the RC components was known. Evolution (DE) strategy (Quaranta et al., 2014), Linear Programming
Cost efficiency is the most desired element, which the owners or (LP) (Balling and Yao, 1997), Non-linear Programming (NLP) (Colin
stakeholders expect from the structural designers for their projects and MacRae, 1984), and Sequential Linear Programming (SLP)
in the AEC industry. Previous studies concerned about the steel (Kanagasundaram and Karihaloo, 1990; Kanagasundaram and
reinforcement optimization for minimum weight, associated cost, Karihaloo, 1991a,b) have been in practice to optimize structural
and overall construction costs, which clearly showed the stages of design problems for many years. Several other techniques including
involving the corresponding design parameters and aspects in Genetic Algorithms (GA) (Rajeev and Krishnamoorthy, 1998), Particle
defining the objectives during RC design optimization. Formulation Swarm Optimization (PSO) (Esfandiari et al., 2018b; Esfandiary et al.,
of objective functions should be carried out in such a way as to 2016), Harmony Search (HS) (Akin and Saka, 2015), Ant Colony
satisfy most of the constraints while giving less importance for Optimization (ACO) (Kaveh and Talatahari, 2010), Simulated
trade-off between other important aspects. For example, Porwal Annealing (SA) (Paya et al., 2008), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) (Jahjouh
and Hewage (2012) formulated the objective function to mini- et al., 2013), Firefly Algorithm (FA) (Gandomi et al., 2015), and Bat
mize the waste rate of steel reinforcement bars by altering the Algorithm (BA) (Bekdas and Nigdeli, 2016) etc. among others, were
architectural layout plan according to available rebar lengths in the also previously utilized to explore the design space for detailed
market. Although the cost against rebar wastage was reduced to design optimization of RC structures. There have been some studies
some extent, the architectural layout was compromised to a greater such as by Ferreira et al. (2003), MacRae and Cohn (1987), and Colin
extent. However, it could otherwise be solved even better by taking and MacRae (1984) etc., in which general numerical methods rather
account of the layout plan as constrained parameter because it can than these optimization techniques were adopted to quantify the
produce feasible outcomes for the regions with higher land costs optimum steel reinforcement amounts in RC components. The
such as Hong Kong. In most of the spectacular high-rise building computation for true optimal solutions is relatively fast because of
structures, the composition of the objective function was often the straightforward objective functions in these studies where very
formulated in such a way to minimize the weight of the structure, small search space is to be explored. The choice of the optimization
thus minimizing the whole structural cost (Chan and Wang, 2005, technique depends on the characteristics of the given problem. For
2006; Huang et al., 2011). The objective function formulation for example, deterministic optimization techniques are problem-
such cases combines economical and technical performance as- dependent and tend to take the full advantage of the problem
pects for RC structures to be achieved significantly. particularities thus are too greedy in nature. On the other hand,
Another commonly adopted objective function is the quantifi- meta-heuristic optimization techniques are problem-independent
cation of life cycle costs assessment that includes the cost from techniques and used as black boxes thus are widely adopted to
early design stage to the end-life stage of RC structures. As the cost solve the complex NP-hard problems in the engineering domains.
is closely related to the global warming, Yepes et al. (2008, 2012) As the current detailing design optimization of RC structures is a
proposed a cognitive approach to develop a multi-objective func- complex NP-hard problem due to the large number of possible
tion for structural problems, that incorporates the joint effect of solutions, metaheuristic optimization techniques are seen in
subjective and objective aspects. The mathematical modeling extensive usage in the field of civil and structural engineering. Fig. 8
consisted of designing RC I-beams with simultaneous optimization can clearly show this dramatic quantitative difference between the
of three objective functions, i.e. economic cost, carbon emissions, adoption of both optimization techniques. GA is one of the
and service life. A BIM-based life cycle carbon assessment strategy commonly used metaheuristic optimization technique among
was used to explore significant enhancements, and these aspects others due to its flexibility in adoption. The figure also shows that
along with minimizing the steel reinforcement parameters were there is a total of 87 articles are using GA for design optimization,
included into the objectives to finally improve the environmental followed by HS optimization with 33 articles. Table 2 further
sustainability during the RC detailed structural design summarizes and compares different optimization techniques used
(Eleftheriadis et al., 2018b). Even though there exist policies that in the detailed design of RC structures.
associate environmental and sustainability performance criteria in
early structural design practice, their implementation should be Genetic Algorithm (GA) is an evolutionary based stochastic
assured. Therefore, an integrated approach that addresses the metaheuristic algorithm that mimics the process of natural se-
subsequent environmental objectives, not only at the structural lection. Using binary representation of chromosomes with
unit level but also at the detailed design level, would further additional crossover and mutation operators, it evolves a set of
reinforce this domain. optimum solutions and can efficiently handle non-linear prob-
The precise formulation of the objective function(s) and intel- lems that possess discontinuities and multiple local minima.
ligent selection of design variables play a crucial role in an opti- This algorithm has been seen in extensive usage to optimize the
mization study for detailed RC structural design. The nature of early RC structural design for minimization of the steel reinforcement
studies has focused more on minimizing the total weight, cost, and amount, configuration of rebar layout, sustainable detailing
seismic designs through only optimization techniques, whereas the design of steel reinforcement, and to reduce rebar waste rate.
very recent studies are focusing more on the usage of advanced Due to the fact RC structural design optimization problem is
technologies, such as BIM. computationally a hardly possible, GA is often employed to do
an exhaustive exploration of the search space to generate
3.2.4. Optimization techniques and methods optimal solutions. A set of pareto optimal solutions for sus-
There are several optimization techniques available to deal with tainable building design was presented using a multi-objective
complex, NP-hard, and normal sized structural engineering prob- genetic algorithm (Wang et al., 2005b). There are multiple ad-
lems (Dede et al., 2018) which generally involves searching for the vantages of adopting this algorithm, including simplicity in
most feasible design solutions in predefined bounded or un- programming, proof in finding the global optimum, applicable
bounded domains. The earliest attempts were limited to the small- to diverse problem domains, computational performance, and
scale structural design optimization problems due to lack of effi- diversity of solutions. There have been many developed varia-
cient and robust optimization strategies until 80's when new de- tions of the GA that were adopted for specific problems due to
velopments were introduced in optimization strategies the discrete its nature. Recently, a few authors (Eleftheriadis
(Vanderplaats, 1993). Optimization techniques such as: Differential et al., 2018a, 2018c) used one of the most popular versions of
Fig. 8. Number of collected articles with adopted optimization strategies in each research theme category.
multi-objective genetic algorithms i.e. Non-dominated-and- bars) and continuous variables, its ability to search for local
crowding Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), which was minima/maxima is weak and consequently requires many
developed by Deb (Deb and Sundar, 2006). This version i.e. iterations.
NSGA-II is known as one of the robust and intensively used Simulated Annealing (SA) is an algorithm in which retrieved so-
multi-objective optimization methods that successfully ap- lutions in successive generations are deviated from their exist-
proximates the Pareto front in intensive computational prob- ing locations to move on gradually to grow the possibility of
lems. The GA can even improve the convergence when recovering solutions and to update pareto list towards optimum
hybridized with other suitable algorithm, such as GA-HJ where a values. It is an iterative algorithm that is used to solve combi-
Hooke and Jeeves (HJ) based local search algorithm is combined natorial optimization problems in a discrete search space. In the
with it (Sahab et al., 2005). This technique also uses several literature, Michalek et al. (2002) used GA and SA to search for
stochastic procedures and operators; besides, they are nonde- global solutions for their architectural layout design optimiza-
terministic techniques, for which they do not commit to find the tion problem where combinations of different components are
true optimal solutions. In case of the large and complex prob- needed. Yepes et al. (2008) employed this technique to deter-
lems, due to the repetition of fitness function evaluation, the GA mine the economical design optimization of RC earth-retaining
can often result in extra computational costs. walls while satisfying structural performance constraints. It
Harmony Search (HS) is musical harmony-based optimization shows that it performs more effectively when multiple variables
technique which recombines variable values in the search of per iteration are modified which, in fact, needs a varying cali-
optimum solutions and generates best combinations through bration. This algorithm was combined with rigorously derived
path deviation from nearby regional values. Unlike the other optimality criteria (OC) to achieve structural optimum design of
existing optimization techniques distinguished by its natural RC buildings under severe multi-load scenarios (Li et al., 2010a).
behavior, it is inspired by techniques that musicians adopt to It was clearly shown that the structural optimum performance
look for a better harmony (Geem et al., 2001). Results obtained criteria (i.e. both strength and stiffness optimum design) were
by HS algorithm usually outperform the results obtained from aimed to achieve optimum solutions in an adaptive feasible
other algorithms due to its nature of replacing the worse solu- region. The SA was also seen to be employed mostly in optimi-
tions by the decision variables of good solution in each iteration zation problems with multi-objectives in which more than one
(Akin and Saka, 2015). This algorithm is robust, effective, and objective was explored (Paya et al., 2006, 2008). Even though
reliable for adoption which is why recent several enhancements this method has numerous advantages, it requires large
are guaranteeing to improve the performance of this algorithm. computing time without giving an associated upper bound.
Bekdaş and Nigdeli (2017) slightly modified this algorithm with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is an algorithm in which so-
random search stages to investigate the most economical opti- lutions from the upcoming iteration gradually update their po-
mum detailed design of RC frames. It was noted that the sition according to their current, local best, and global best
modified version comes up with improved results and serves as position. The current position of solutions follows the specific
a feasible approach to investigate structural engineering prob- velocity, weight, and acceleration to generate optimum solu-
lems. Two of the main limitations in this algorithm are: (1) it is tions. This technique is principally inspired by the social
not truly a new approach apart from its metaphor, and (2) its behavior of fish schooling and bird flocking, in which the par-
performance is limited by the performance of evolution strate- ticles keep moving in a multi-dimensional search space (Zhu,
gies (Weyland, 2010). Even though it provides the ability to use 2008). In this technique, a set of arbitrary solutions is firstly
both discrete variables (i.e. diameters of steel reinforcement adjusted and then optimization search must be ensured by
Table 2
Summary and comparison of adopted optimization techniques to solve the detailed RC structural design optimization problem (a few of corresponding but selected research
articles are given).
Category Optimization Objective function Advantage Disadvantage References Remark

technique
Intelligent Genetic Algorithm Minimization of total Can be dealt with both Time consuming (Coello Coello et al., 1997; Park High
optimization cost, continuous and discrete for large and et al., 2016; Rafiq and
technique material amount and complex problems Southcombe, 1998)
weight of structures
Particle Swarm Minimization of total Robust and simple to in Difficulty in defining initial (Gandomi et al., 2015; Moderate
Optimization structural cost implementation design parameters Shenbagam and Arunachalam,
2017; Varaee and Ahmadi-
Nedushan, 2011)
Simulated Annealing Minimization of Simplicity in implementation Unable to provide (Paya-Zaforteza et al., 2009; High
material cost and information on efforts to Paya et al., 2006; Yepes et al.,
associated carbon derive global minima 2008)
emissions
Harmony Search Minimization of total Required no initial parameters Requires higher number of (Akin and Saka, 2015; Kaveh High
cost of structural settings iterations and Shakouri Mahmud Abadi,
elements 2011; Nigdeli et al., 2015)
Artificial Neural Minimization of steel Capability of dealing with Unexplained behaviour of (Ahmadkhanlou and Adeli, High
Network ratio and associated incomplete knowledge network 2005a; Fernandez-Ceniceros
cost and carbon et al., 2013; Yeh and Chen,
emissions 2012)
Artificial Bee Colony Minimization of cost Guaranteed convergence Uncertain time to (Gheyratmand et al., 2015; Moderate
of structural design convergence Jahjouh et al., 2013)
Ant Colony Cost reduction and Faster discovery of best Needs more experimental (Kaveh and Talatahari, 2010; High
Optimization optimum layout solutions than theoretical research Sharafi et al., 2012)
design of RC frames
Cuckoo Search Minimization of Simplicity in adoption and aims Individuals does not fully (Gandomi et al., 2015; Ghandi High
Algorithm construction materials to speed up convergence reflect the adaptive et al., 2017)
and associated cost behaviour
Big Bang-Big Crunch Minimization of cost Capability of finding the most Convergence is probably low (Camp and Akin, 2012; Kaveh High
Algorithm of structure promising spaces in entire in some cases and Sabzi, 2012a)
search space
Hybrid Genetic Algorithm Minimization of steel Better accuracy and Required higher (Mangal and Cheng, 2018; High
optimization and Hooke-Jeeves reinforcement convergence computational time than GA Sahab et al., 2005)
methods Algorithm
Particle Swarm Minimization of Avoids getting trapped into Higher amount of efforts in (Chutani and Singh, 2017, 2018) High
Optimization and material and local optima and improves handling parameters
Gravitational Search formwork cost premature convergence
Algorithm
Particle Swarm Minimization of cost Effectiveness in results because Easily trapped into local Talaei et al. (2017) Moderate
Optimization and and volume of of simultaneous action of both minima or if it may reach to
Harmony Search construction materials algorithms global minima but with a
great error
Multi-criterion Minimization of cost Excellent performance in Requires extra computational (Esfandiari et al., 2018a, 2018b; High
Decision Making and and weight of getting feasible solution while resources Esfandiary et al., 2016)
Particle Swarm structure taking advantage of infeasible
Optimization solutions
Simulated Annealing Minimization of Surprisingly efficient for Requires extensive Yepes et al. (2015a,b) High
and Gravitational material cost and advanced automatic design of computational interpretation
Search Algorithm associated carbon real construction
emissions
Hybrid Simulated Minimization of total Efficient in practical element Some of the intermediate Li et al. (2010b) Moderate
Annealing and structural cost resizing design of large-scale iterations contain results
Optimality Criteria building structures away from local minima
Firefly Algorithm and Minimization of High acceleration in accuracy, Requires higher efforts in Khajehzadeh et al. (2013) High
Sequential Quadratic material cost and stability, and convergence rate formulation of coding
Programming associated carbon towards global optimum
emissions
Conventional Linear Programming Minimization of steel Flexibility to be paired up with Slower in finding new design (Borkowski, 1977; Brotchie, Moderate
optimization reinforcement other approximation to points in a multidimensional 1997)
methods improve convergence design space
Mixed Integer Minimization of Nonlinear solvers often observe It often reduces the size of Guerra et al. (2011) High
Nonlinear material and labour good solutions even to feasible region which may
Programming cost nonconvex problems reduce convergence
Random Walk and Economic Improve the performance by Random walk consumes Perea et al. (2008) Moderate
Descent Local Search optimization of RC box repairing unfeasible solutions more computation time than
frames Descent Local Search
Optimality Criteria Optimal cost, stiffness, Provides optimal design Solution may differ when (Chan and Wang, 2005, 2006; Moderate
and drift design of RC solution for both small and optimizer was sensitive to Zou and Chan, 2005)
frame tall building large structures small changes
updating the subsequent generations. Based on the available computer development era, these procedures were performed by
literature, this algorithm provided better solution quality and simplified approaches, mainly with the aid of trial and error,
less computational time than GA and other metaheuristic al- which requires massive effort but with lower efficiency (Kaveh
gorithms. It is also reflected that the variations introduced in and Behnam, 2013). Computer advantages with some prominent
this algorithm have better convergence towards optimal solu- and promising software packages helped structural practitioners
tions than the conventional PSO technique. In fact, this algo- to perform relatively faster and more cost-effective design and
rithm presents comparatively less computational cost in analysis processes. Software packages such as ETABS and SAP have
comparison with other optimization techniques and can be helped structural engineers for a quite long time to design and
adopted in the real practice of structural engineering problems. analyze the structures for their intended purposes until the cur-
Despite the advantages of PSO in RC structural optimization, rent computing advancements. The addition of optimization
difficulty in defining the initial design parameters, and trapping systems into structural design processes has efficiently improved
into local minima during computation of complex problems are the elevation of these software. For example, Porwal and Hewage
among some of the drawbacks. (2012) has taken the advantage of BIM software i.e. Autodesk Revit
Nonlinear Programming (NLP) has multiple sequent options to to not only visualize the results but also provide semantic infor-
permit the nonlinear objectives within the problem search mation exchange with one-dimensional (1D) cutting waste-
space that is traversed by constraints. Most of the structural optimization technique. Moreover, the architectural model was
engineering detailing design problems are composed of automatically altered according to the available size, length, and
nonlinear relationship for minimizing or maximizing the rebar diameter using Autodesk Revit. It is of crucial importance to
objective function(s). In the literature, most studies were con- use the right software package based on the required computation
taining the nonlinear behaviors between different structural at different levels of the optimization processes and modules. In
performance parameters to attain optimal cost, drift, stiffness, order to collect the required information dataset of steel rein-
and weight design solutions. Additionally, a Mixed Integer forcement layout, BIM environment should be first selected and
Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) model was employed when then the information is transferred to ETABS for carrying out
the design variables were both discrete and continuous and structural analysis, following by the collection of optimized in-
their constraints and objective functions were nonlinear. Such formation of reinforcement bars (Nadoushani et al., 2018).
an investigation can be found in (Guerra et al., 2011) in which Some of the existing software packages have proven less efficient
MINLP was explored for the optimum design of concrete in solving complex engineering problems due to less automation
structures for the minimal cost by reformulating the comple- available, interoperability issues (Arayici et al., 2018), inability to
mentary nonlinear constraints. However, the extensively large integrate the creativity of a structural practitioner (Rolvink et al.,
number of decision variables involved in MINLP methods often 2014), and complex semantic 3D visualization up to the higher
results in longer computation time defining their major dimension of BIM level of detailing. To overcome these issues, cus-
drawback. tomization i.e. Application Programming Interface (API), is usually
made in existing software packages aiming at full automation and
Apart from above mentioned optimization strategies, there have faster and customized results (Oti et al., 2016) in the design opti-
been several other recently introduced techniques, including Big- mization of RC structures. For example, an API serves as a bridge
Bang Big-Crunch (BB-BC) (Camp and Akin, 2012), Cuckoo Search between Autodesk Revit to Robot Structural Analysis (RSA) software
Optimization (CSO) (Ghandi et al., 2017), Glowworm Swarm Opti- to perform structural analysis and automatically optimize the
mization (GSO) (Yepes et al., 2015a,b), Charged System Search (CSS) required steel reinforcement. Other profound appraisals of steel
(Kaveh and Behnam, 2013; Kaveh and Talatahari, 2012), Teaching- reinforcement detailing design optimization and automation are
Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) (Bekdaş and Nigdeli, 2015), seen in studies (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c; Mangal and Cheng, 2018)
Firewall Algorithm (FA), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), and where it is ensured to link two or more computational tools through
Crow Search Algorithm (CSA), which somehow has shown even API. Moreover, an additional Graphical User Interface (GUI) to
improved performances compared to traditional methods. Fig. 8 configure structural engineer's preferences is also developed within
shows that some of these latest optimization techniques are yet the structural analysis software package. These software packages
to be adopted for various objectives in the subject matter; for are being developed by researchers and industrial personnel to help
example, Cuckoo Search Optimization (CSO) has not been considered structural engineers in optimizing the early design stages for several
for any research theme except for cost efficiency. There exists future purposes. However, these computational tools for RC structural
potential to go for this optimization technique, as well as other design optimization can be improved with attentive accumulation of
modern techniques. Table 2 summarizes useful guidance for pre-merged optimization strategies. Some of the existing software
selecting the most effective and verified technique to solve the RC tools require extensive interpretation and enough prior knowledge
structural design optimization problem. It can also provide the to utilize wisely for intended purpose within the domain of RC
clear portrait of weaknesses and strengths of most of these algo- structural design optimization. Computer-based conceptual design
rithms to solve the subject matter problem. It is found from the optimization therefore can efficiently solve most of the engineering
available literature that hybrid optimization methods reach the problem and aims to support the structural designer by increasing
optimum solutions fast for computationally intensive and relatively the number of available design alternatives.
large structural design optimization problems. Table 3 summarizes the computational tools that are frequently
used in RC structural design optimization problem with a reflection
3.2.5. Computational tools on their comparison and performances. Several software packages
Different computational tools provide an environment to are found available to facilitate the RC structural detailed design
perform structural analyses, simulations, and visualizations optimization problem for different research themes. The commonly
among others for the parametric modeling of the RC structures used software packages are:
during the early phases of design. In the old times, structural
design and analysis were carried out with extensive manual cal- For BIM modeling, software packages including Autodesk Revit,
culations (trial and error, error-prone, time consuming, and Autodesk 3D Studio Max, Tekla Structures, ArchiCAD, MicroStation,
tedious) involved until the computer era began. Before the and Vectorworks etc.
Table 3
Summary of computational tools utilized in available research for optimization of RC detailed design (a few of corresponding but selected research articles are given).
Category Computational Organization Description Relevant literature

tool
Parametric BIM modeling Revit Autodesk Revit has been used for main (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c; Mangal and Cheng, 2018;
tools environment for modelling Mangal et al., 2017; Marzouk et al., 2018)
architectural and structural elements
and carry out optimization. It was also
used to extract semantic information of
models to further use for different
analyses
Revit Autodesk Structural BIM models has been Porwal and Hewage (2012)
Structures prepared in Revit with MEP and HVAC
elements
FEM structural analysis tools SAP2000 Computers and Structures, Structural analysis has been carried out (Talatahari et al., 2015; Zou and Chan, 2005)
Inc. (CSi) incorporating building codes
fundamentals
ETABS Computers and Structures, An FEM software in which RC structural (Cho et al., 2014; Gan et al., 2017b)
Inc. (CSi) buildings were designed incorporating
different design codes
RSA Autodesk RSA is used to FEM modelling, analysis, (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c; Mangal and Cheng, 2018)
and design of RC structures and
individual components
ANSYS ANSYS A commercial FEM analysis software Li et al. (2010b)
with detailing analysis and design
OpenSEES UC Berkeley An object-oriented software framework Gharehbaghi and Fadaee (2012)
for the development of structural
performance simulation
CYPECAD CYPE This software can be used for structural Ferreiro-Cabello et al. (2016)
analysis with reinforcement design and
alterations
CSiBridge Computers and Structures, A computer tool i.e. API, suitable for García-Segura and Yepes (2016)
Inc. (CSi) optimizing real-bridge problems, linked
CSiBridge and MATLAB software to
integrate finite-element analysis, limit
state verification, and multi-objective
optimization
Building environmental IDA ICE EQUA Simulation AB A simulation application for the Pal et al. (2017b)
design and analysis Software estimation of the operational carbon
footprint corresponding to different
construction materials and building
systems based on the energy demand
SimaPro SimaPro Reinforced hollow core slabs and beams Dossche et al. (2018)
with different strength classes and
quantities of the constituent materials
were processed in this application for
the quantification of their
environmental impacts
Optimization tool with MATLAB MathWorks Most of the computational optimization (García-Segura and Yepes, 2016; Gharehbaghi and
programming work has been performed in this Fadaee, 2012; Yeo and Potra, 2013)
environment computer programming environment
TK-Solver Universal Technical It provides both a direct solver, and an Rafiq and Southcombe (1998)
Systems, Inc. iterative solver for processing rules. The
two components can work
independently or can be combined to
write a flexible program. This makes it
an attractive replacement to the
conventional programming languages,
for engineering problems
For structural analysis and design, software packages including different software packages with different environments. Based on
CSi ETABS, SAP, SAFE, Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Profes- the available literature, using customized API in existing software
sional (RSA), STAAD.Pro, ANSYS, ADINA, and Tekla Structural packages often found more efficient than the results from con-
Designer etc. ventional software. Although there are several other computational
For infrastructure, software packages including Structural Bridge tools used in the domain of the detailed design optimization of RC
Design, Autodesk Civil3D, CSi Bridge, Autodesk Infraworks, and structures, most researches except a few are still relying on the
Civil Designer etc. existing software tools. Once the formulation of objective function
is finalized, the commercially available computational tools are
Most of these computational tools are customized using API, utilized to carry out required simulations. When these commer-
which makes it easier to incorporate the desired implementations cially available tools are unable to the perform the required simu-
into their interface to expose objects or actions according to the lation, different software packages are combined by creating a
needs of the programmer or designer. It can also be helpful in bridge in the form of API (Schlueter and Thesseling, 2009).
creating a bridge or communication platform between two Although the performance of available computational tools is
satisfactory in the near future, it is yet to explore the benefits of required performances during rebar design optimization. More-
emerging and standalone tools for RC structural detailed design over, the processes for scheduling and sequencing of the con-
optimization problem. BIM-based parametrized structural design struction activities are valuables if negotiated at early design stage,
can be continuously implemented soon for design automation. therefore, they can also be entitled as subjective performance
measures during the detailed rebar design optimization while
aiming at overall cost and time efficient project deliveries. How-
4. Research gaps and future recommendations
ever, the integration of PBD specifications and considerations can
be a challenging task during the early detailing design process
Although substantial achievements have been made in the past
which leads to further investigations on trade-offs between rebar
decades in the field of optimizing the detailed structural design, a
layout and other critical aspects. Hence, it is to be expected from the
large quantity of challenges yet remain unrevealed complications.
future studies to intelligently incorporate PBD-optimization
Fig. 9 shows the systematic flow of the suggested hypothetical
approach during the early detailing stages of RC structural design.
future research recommendations in the subject matter.
Since large-scale RC structures such as bridge girders, nuclear RC
structures, and thick beams and columns consist of heavy rein-
4.1. Performance-based design (PBD) optimization forcement, and often their strength and fire resistivity cannot be
compromised. In such situations, PBD approach for their required
Previously, considerable efforts has already been paid in the strength and fire resistivity can help optimize layout, spacing,
exploration of the performance-based design (PBD) of RC struc- diameter, and concrete cover specifications related to reinforce-
tures but most of these studies considered either seismic resistivity ment bars. Structural practitioners can additionally modify the
(Zou and Chan, 2005) or reliability (Yazdani et al., 2017) of RC optimization parameters related to steel reinforcement to target at
structures which requires tedious and intensive computations. the technical performances (bending displacements etc.). Extra
Generally, the PBD approach is applied to improve the lateral drifts efforts in future studies are foreseeable which will utilize more
of high-rise RC structures to withstand both the regional topo- innovative, efficient, and advanced optimization techniques to
graphical terrains and environmental seismicity. It was also adop- synthesize the PBD approach with detailing design optimization
ted to minimize the total construction cost, life cycle cost, and to though it may require complex modeling strategies. Future work
significantly improve the performance of building structure (Zou can focus more on adoptable optimization algorithms as well as to
and Chan, 2005). For example, the life cycle cost minimization of control the parameters of the PBD based objectives and help
RC structures for the seismic performance design criteria against structural engineers and practitioners to properly set their goals.
seismic vibrations, was performed through PBD approach (Zou
et al., 2007). It also helped in attaining the desirable performance
for rational proportion of strength, deformability, and stiffness of 4.2. Clash free steel reinforcement optimization
RC structures (Sasani, 1998). Performance based design optimiza-
tion (PBDO) employing the theory of uniform deformation that Detailed reinforcement design using different bar types at
combined with metaheuristics, was carried out to reflect the per- different topologies within different structural components is a
formance of RC structures (Mohammadi and Ghasemof). complex problem. The steel reinforcement configurations for
Although PBD approach has been in practice since last few years different structural components (e.g., beams and shear walls) are
in the domain of RC structural design, its integration during the not identical and need to be considered differently. The detailed
detailed design optimization of RC structures (such as detailed reinforcement configurations for different types of structural
design of steel reinforcement) was yet to be explored. Generally, components are inherently complex due to their load-bearing na-
most of the available studies dealing with detailed steel rein- ture and design principle. For example, beams are typical compo-
forcement optimization has only followed regional specifications nents in flexure whereas shear walls and columns are members
rather than considering PBD approach. Performance based design axially loaded with or without flexure. In addition, the distribution
optimization of the steel reinforcement can provide the options to of loads, which includes the deflection induced moment, torsion
specify rebars based on the required strength, yield stress, bending and combined effects, leads to additional construction re-
capacity, and shear capacity at different locations within the cross- quirements such as the addition of torsional reinforcement. In the
section. This approach can be a competitive choice rather than case of clash free steel reinforcement optimization, these technical
following prescriptive approaches to optimize the steel reinforce- specifications impact the optimal design formulation such as vari-
ment weight, amount, and layout configurations in high-rise RC able definition and design constraints as well as the searching al-
structures where the overall weight is critical concerned. Because gorithm for the optimization. After detailed design optimization of
constructability is directly affected by the detailed design optimi- steel reinforcement in these components, there may exist spatial
zation for steel reinforcement, it can be aimed at one of the clashes of rebars in beam-column joints and much complexities in
Fig. 9. Systematic flow of suggested future researches in sustainable RC structural optimization.

column-beam-slab junctions. Therefore, it is of crucial importance procurement, service, demolition until recycle stage (Puskas and
to identify and resolve these rebar clashes at an early detailing MOGA, 2015). A few studies proposed ways to reduce the envi-
design stage to enhance rebar constructability. Based on this ronmental impacts by suggesting material reuse and structural
breach, future researchers can consider more rationales to deal form alternatives (Gan et al., 2017b), structural system alternatives
with the optimization of steel reinforcement layout designs (Moussavi Nadoushani and Akbarnezhad, 2015), and resizing the
without any overlap between rebars of various geometries. geometries of components (Choi et al., 2017).
Although defining the combinations of different rebar diameters Steel reinforcement detailing design optimization combined
can optimize the total rebar weight, it can considerably increase the with cost and environmental sustainability would become a multi-
rebar complexity and constructability issues thereby showing such objective/disciplinary optimization problem, and a sound trade-off
critical trade-offs (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c). between different design variables can be pictured for which an
Integrating the clash detection during the rebar detailing design intelligent mathematical formulation and method selection is
optimization can effectively provide a platform to instantly resolve needed. Structural practitioners aiming at enhancing the sustain-
these rebar spatial clashes at different joints made by RC compo- ability of their designs are characterized by long term economic and
nents. Recently, a research study (Mangal et al., 2017) tried to environmental performance goals for RC structures. This may
address this analytical issue of rebar clashes at column-beam joint require the formulation of a multi-objective problem with several
once the detailed design optimization of steel reinforcement have compulsory parameters such as extended costs of reinforcement
been observed. Intelligent strategies to automatically resolve these corrosion, maintenance, repair, retrofit, and replacement in order to
rebar clashes were then introduced with the aid of BIM-technology. retrieve an economical design. Future studies are recommended,
Additionally, a BIM-based automated path planning of rebars was for example, to group such parameters and variables of the same
studied through multi agent-based methodology to have a clash- nature and performance, and then choose the best fit optimization
free rebar layout at column beam joints (Liu et al., 2018). Despite strategy. Exploration of different material alternatives for steel
these available practices, more efforts are still needed to explore reinforcement, because of their efficient properties, can promise
efficient clash resolution methods to generate a clash-free rebar high-strength, economical, and sustainable performances for RC
layout at complex connections during the early stage rebar detail- structures thus increasing its life. Very less use of some steel alloys
ing design. Joints made by different cross-sectional geometries of can contribute to lower environmental impacts as they are manu-
RC components can reflect extra tedious and complex rebar con- factured at lower cost and higher compressive strength. The po-
figurations as well as can increase the types of joints exposed to tential is there for future studies to consider the selection of low
numerous clashes between rebars. Future studies are expected to cost and low amounts of steel reinforcement in enhancing the
optimize rebar detailing design for adequate spacing between re- surrounding environmental efficiency during the design stage. The
bars at such junctions to have a clear clash-free rebar layout. The environmental load of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforce-
installation sequence of multiple diameters of rebars for complex ment is even lower than that of normal steel reinforcement (Katz,
rebar layouts can also be simulated at the early design stage to 2004). But a proper alignment of fiber orientation is needed as a
ensure the smooth execution. This can even be more economical in low deviation of flexural performance of homogenous flowable fi-
case of the large scale and complex RC structures where numerous ber concrete is its intrinsic characteristic (Grünewald et al., 2012).
project parties are responsible for different stages of the detailed Due to the improper fiber alignment (unlike the conventional
design. Use of BIM-technology on the other hand can be a pro- concrete), such materials typically are more prone to multiple
ductive platform for better visualization and interpretation of clash cracking behavior which critically reduces the mechanical perfor-
free design syntheses as it helps analyze the feasibility of multiple mance of RC structures (Yıldırım et al., 2015). Therefore, future
options for clash resolution by exploring a comprehensive view of studies can offer developments to consider different steel rein-
the spatial connectivity of objects within joint. Recent advances in forcement constitutes based on their inherent properties ranging
virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) from environmental to technical performances. Future studies can,
applications are envisioned supporting the BIM models of rebar in fact, formulate and incorporate variation in different material
layout at RC components’ joints to automatically detect and then alternatives in the design optimization of the steel reinforcement as
instantly resolve the rebar clashes. It is important to keep in mind these alternatives can alter the problem formulation at detailed
that clash detection can yet be performed automatically without designing stage. Furthermore, recent studies are becoming more
visual aid using built-in capabilities of design elements, but clash concerned for the material properties and alternatives due to their
resolution is yet relying on the visual environment. Future studies economic perspectives. Future studies, therefore, can integrate the
can focus on accommodating clash management (both clash material characteristics into defining the optimization objectives
detection and resolution) automatically at the early design stage, and analyze their direct or indirect resulting impacts on the RC
making the process easier and more streamlined. design optimization. The reliability and performance of the RC
structure can also be predicted during the early rebar detailing
4.3. Multi-objective optimization design stage by suggesting several reinforcement constituents,
including smart reinforcement, carbon fiber reinforcement, and
It is of greater importance to highlight the environmental sus- shape memory alloy reinforcement as well as their interaction with
tainability topics in the detailed design optimization of RC struc- self-healing concrete etc. Although the selection of such construc-
tures, improving the way current approaches are focusing on this tion materials can directly influence the total construction cost,
paradigm. Current approaches are more connected with structural building energy use, robustness, and aesthetics, there is a need for a
performance analysis rather than integrating the associative plat- better integration between structural design optimization and
forms during rebar detailing design optimization, and thus can be material properties as it could further facilitate the advancement of
expected from future studies. Steel reinforcement design optimi- efficient engineering solutions and systems. Additionally, the usage
zation, if associated with sustainability integration, can contribute a of steel reinforcement derivatives can attain the desired multi-
life time environmentally efficient performance from the steel objectives of reducing the environmental impact, cost, and
reinforcement production stage to fabrication, transportation, weight of RC structures, thus increasing the service life.
4.4. Design for complex and irregular RC components installation of rebars with multiple bents. Due to the millions of
elements with different dimensions and sizes are expected in de-
It is found that detailed structural design optimization was signs of complex RC structures, automation is critically needed to
mostly concerned with rectangular sections of RC frames rather prepare the drawings for each element with extensive level of
than touching the irregular geometries at all. Because irregular detailing.
geometrical sections are full of complex reinforcement layouts at
different floor levels of building and infrastructure, it is uncommon
to have typical and standard reinforcement configurations. Previ- 4.5. Improving the performance of optimization strategies
ously, rectangular frame structures (Mangal and Cheng, 2018) and
rectangular RC flat slabs (Eleftheriadis et al., 2018c; Sahab et al., RC structural design optimization is normally performed using
2005) were optimized for minimizing the steel reinforcement different artificial intelligence techniques ranging from heuristic,
amount whereas placement of rebars in rectangular slabs was metaheuristic, and hyper-heuristics, based on the problem nature,
performed using BIM technology (Cho et al., 2014). Concrete shells scope, and solution. Some techniques have produced high effi-
(Bertagnoli et al., 2014), shear walls in high-rise structures (Hoseini ciency results while others have compromised for the same prob-
Vaez and Shahmoradi Qomi, 2018), T-shaped RC beams under lem, thus hybridization comes into the field to employ two or more
flexural effects (Bekdaş and Nigdeli, 2012), bridge RC frames (Perea optimization techniques during different but corresponding stages
et al., 2008), and hollow sections of the bridge (Martínez et al., of optimization procedure which mostly results in high efficiency.
2010) were also optimized for lower overall weight, cost, and This hybridization leads to the formulation of hyper-heuristics, but
environmental efficiency, most of which were rectangular sections. much is yet to be explored to gain enough awareness to adopt these
On the other hand, only a few studies on components with complex smart techniques in the subject matter. The rebar layout and con-
and irregular geometry, for example, arbitrary arrangements in figurations are not simple and turn to be denser at joints made by
high-rise irregular building (Aldwaik and Adeli, 2016) and concrete different RC components. The concentrated rebar configurations
bridge girders (Aydın and Ayvaz, 2010) are seen optimizing for total contain a number of different design variables, multiple objectives,
cost and shape geometry, respectively. The manual and semi- and constructability and other constraints that make the optimi-
automated design approaches to deal with the detailing optimization process more tedious (Zhu et al., 2014). Extensive variations
zation of steel reinforcement are time consuming. The time taken on the rebar types may also complicate the rebar detailing process
through these approaches depends on the problem nature, adopted which require existing metaheuristic approaches to be intelligent
techniques and algorithms, and more importantly system config- and smart enough to learn autonomously to solve this problem. To
urations used for the optimum searching. For example, Mangal and deal with the complicated problem of steel reinforcement detailing
Cheng (2018) recorded the computational time of 9e82 ms for nowadays, future studies should pay attention on synthesizing
optimizing the reinforcing steel in a multi-story RC frame struc- different optimization techniques to develop hybrid algorithms
tures under different loading and boundary conditions. It was which best suit the problem nature. The observed investigations up
solved by a multi-stage generic algorithm and based on the Intel® to now show that hyper-heuristic methodologies can intelligently
Core™ i7-4790 CPU @3.60 GHz Processor and 16 GB RAM. The time handle both single and multi-objective problems, thus resulting in
usage could be shortened by adopting alternative computer algo- better and efficient computational performance to retrieve higher
rithms such as simulated annealing and PSO, or use advanced quality of design solutions (Burke et al., 2013). These techniques
methods (e.g., high level parameters) to formulate the design comprise a set of approaches which are driven by the goal of
problem. automating the design of heuristics to solve hard computational
With recent modern advances in architectural aesthetics, the search problems.
designs for buildings and infrastructure are gradually getting very In order to deal with current multi-objective problem, future
complex. Therefore, digital fabrication is mostly required to convert studies may work on developing multi-disciplinary hierarchical
such complex geometries into reality (García de Soto et al., 2018). optimization methodologies where the simulation program is
Non-typical and varying geometrical components subjected to proficient enough to produce different design alternatives. These
diverse loadings are common in such complex structures. The methodologies thence can enable practitioners and advanced users
design of rebars in such diversified components must be followed to employ their expert knowledge in building multiple multi-
by the oscillating shape and geometry while satisfying the struc- disciplinary objectives. A diverse range of suitable algorithms can
tural performance. Recently, computer-aided generative design and validate accuracy and performance of multiple design solutions
manufacturing approaches have revitalized the potentiality of depending on the problem nature and application method. It is
dealing with such complex structural geometries. However, hard to deny the bitter reality that, despite being computationally
complicated component shapes with rebars generated by such expensive, conventional optimization algorithms are still in usage
digital design tools may bear little relation to the default modes of to solve the current subject matter. Therefore, an apparent and pre-
production, leaving a large gap where no efficient practical solution defined required computational efficiency of these algorithms is
exists. Future studies can consider the integration of digital design one of the fundamentally important aspects which will help
knowledges for the optimization of complicated geometries of RC enhance their performance. Thus, the upcoming research studies
components which then may require Smart Dynamic Casting (SDC) should develop promising rationales to select the optimization al-
tools for concrete pouring and reinforcement installation in such gorithms based on their computational efficiencies. Future studies
structures. The shape and spacing between steel reinforcement can also consider developing graphical user interface within the
bars can also be optimized in such complex components to ensure a optimization procedures which includes 3D visualization of RC
minimal amount of steel reinforcement. Future studies may structures or individual components associated with certain set of
develop algorithms and techniques to automate the shape design of solutions. Furthermore, future enhancements can consider parallel
steel reinforcement bars with multiple bends and prepare the processing evaluations, including custom asynchronous operations
corresponding drawings for scheduling and optimum quantity of optimization algorithms, thus advancing the direct search
take-off. As the formwork represents 35%e60% of the overall cost in methods. Hence, subsequent research should focus on these areas
the construction of concrete structures (Johnston, 2008), the provided that the adopted optimization techniques has computa-
formwork should also be optimized sufficiently for associative tional efficiency and good accuracy.
4.6. Concentration of reinforcement detailing in Design for statistical and mathematical analyses of the retrieved literature
Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) provide an interestingly unique representation of detailed design
optimization of the RC structures.
Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) has proven an Based on the available literature, four major research theme
approach in the AEC industry which improves the quality of both categories namely, material efficiency, material and cost efficiency,
design and construction stages. Recent advancements in offsite and material and environmental efficiency, and sustainable design ef-
prefabricated construction methods are susceptible to reduce the ficiency were identified in the realm of RC structural detailed
construction and demolition (C&D) waste and improve construc- design optimization. These categories were mainly based on the
tion productivity among several other advantages (Afzal et al., primary objectives for which the optimization of RC structures is
2017). This field is not yet matured enough to intuitively and performed. For example, the first category includes the optimiza-
automatically coordinate the assembling of the prefabricated tion for the minimum steel reinforcement amount in RC structures
components at construction site which may have rebars on their or individual components whereas the second category includes
connecting edges. Optimization of rebar layout and arrangements the minimization of the total cost associated with the construction
for DfMA can further enhance the prefabricated construction to materials using different optimization strategies. The related con-
improve the overall productivity. The use of digital fabrication in cepts such as, strategies to efficiently formulate the design opti-
construction industry has already enhanced the quality, cost, and mization problem, to define design variables, and to set out the
time efficiencies of construction projects to greater extent (García corresponding constraints were also explained to rigorously un-
de Soto et al., 2018). Structural practitioners need not only desig- derstand the subject matter. The adoption and performance of
nate the design quality at the early stage but also take into several emerging optimization techniques was also investigated for
consideration good manufacturability of rebars in the factory and the detailed design optimization problem.
buildability on the construction site. More prominent efforts are Finally, this comprehensive review paper has identified some of
expected in the future to provide a deeper understanding of rebar the general challenges and limitations, importantly the future op-
detailing design optimization for insightful DfMA in construction. portunities in future studies for multi-disciplinary detailed design
For example, due to the multiple-bent profile of rebars in complex- optimization of RC structures. Among the identified opportunities,
shaped structural components, the manual rebar bending in such the lack of considering the PBD approach, lack of considering the
cases can compromise their strength and service life. Such a whole frame structure for detailing design optimization of steel
dilemma requires rebar efficient methodologies to traverse rebar reinforcement, and lack of clash detection and resolution at joints
profile-oriented fabrication and manufacture for DfMA. Therefore, are some of them. Other opportunities are, to adopt the multidis-
upcoming researches can adopt the combination of BIM technolo- ciplinary sustainability goals during steel reinforcement detailing,
gies and optimization strategies to automatically design and pre- detailed reinforcing for complex and irregular geometrical RC
pare rebar fabrication information which can provide the structures, improvements in performance of existing optimization
prefabricated assemblies with coordinated execution. Conse- techniques, and DfMA considerations during detailing design
quently, this approach can also attract future studies for developing optimization of steel reinforcement. However, it is clearly
interoperable platforms between digital BIM technologies and concluded that by presenting the limitations in previous literature
digital industry fabrication formats. This information exchange for future studies, discussed opportunities can characterize the
between different platforms will help increase the constructability pioneering strategies and can increase the efficiency of optimiza-
and buildability of steel reinforcement erection, thus enhancing the tion applications in detailed design of RC structures.
efficiency of construction project delivery. By doing so, future re- The major contributions of this review paper are: (1) summarize
searchers can not only contribute to the steel reinforcement waste and investigate the available literature on RC structural detailed
reduction as a raw material for DfMA, but also impact the human design optimization over the last few decades through both qual-
resources, time, cost, and environmental competencies. itative and quantitative analyses, (2) identify the use of emerging
Prefabricated construction of RC structural assemblies requires optimization techniques, regional specifications, general and
manufacturing and then assembling of the steel reinforcement cage geographical research trends, and research theme categories, (3)
instead of dealing with individual rebars. The design optimization highlight the limitations and challenges, and (4) identify the po-
of such rebar networks for preferable coordination is expected from tential future research directions for the detailing design optimi-
future studies which may reduce the waste rate of steel reinforce- zation steel reinforcement in structural engineering design
ment in terms of the necessary evaluation of the design for problems. This paper focused on searching and analyzing peer-
manufacture, assembly, remanufacture and reassembly (DfMARR). reviewed articles such as journals. Not all the conference pro-
Necessarily, the DfMA methodologies in future should also focus on ceedings and reports were included in the main summary, and
creating 5D or higher dimensional simulation models of rebars for therefore inclusion of conference papers and reports could be
construction projects to identify rebar quantities for prefabrication, considered as a branch of the future work.
installation, and clash identification and resolution. Moreover,
these methodologies can also facilitate the analysis of time required Declaration of competing interest
for sequenced rebar installation and cost certainty from the early
design stage to the construction phase. The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
5. Conclusions appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
This comprehensive review paper synthesizes the previous

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Journal of Cleaner Production: Muhammad Afzal, Yuhan Liu, Jack C.P. Cheng, Vincent J.L. Gan

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Journal of Cleaner Production 260 (2020) 120623

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Journal of Cleaner Production

Reinforced concrete structural design optimization: A critical review

* Corresponding author. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The

3.2.2. Scope of design optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1. Introduction environmental performance of RC structures suggesting various

Category Category theme Theme description Relevant literature

Fig. 2. Number of collected articles in each research theme category.

3.1.2. Geographical trends 3.1.3. Trends of adoption of regional speciﬁcations

Category Optimization Objective function Advantage Disadvantage References Remark

Category Computational Organization Description Relevant literature

Fig. 9. Systematic ﬂow of suggested future researches in sustainable RC structural optimization.

This comprehensive review paper synthesizes the previous

optimization of reinforced concrete structures including soil-structure inter- 0733-9445(1993)119:7(2036).

detailing of reinforced concrete biaxial columns supported by a declarative j.cemconres.2018.05.002.

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