Optimal design of large-scale frames with an advanced charged system search algorithm using box-shaped sections

In the present article, an advanced charged system search (ACSS) algorithm is designed for optimizing the large-scale frame structures using box-shaped sections for columns. The proposed ACSS is an extended version of the charged system search (CSS) which is a metaheuristic algorithm that uses the electrostatics and Newtonian laws of mechanics under the conditions of the Coulomb law. Two large-scale 3D frames with 1026 and 1935 components are optimized using AISC-LRFD to show the efficiency of using the box-shaped sections. Overall performance of the ACSS algorithm with box-shaped sections is compared to those of the upper bound strategy for integrated versions of the standard Big Bang Big Church algorithm and two of its newly developed variants. The results show the successful performance of using steel box-shaped columns in comparison to the frames with I-shaped sections. The numerical results show that the ACSS is efficient and robust compared to its standard version.