Performance-based optimal design of RC shearwalls utilizing PSO and PSOHS metaheurisctic algorithms

The main objective of this paper is to present a new approach for seismic design of RC shear-walls. In order to achieve the desired performance with the minimum possible cost, a formulation is presented which fulfills the constraints of FEMA 365. The robust metaheuristic algorithm PSO and its recently enhanced version, PSOHS, are employed and the results compared. This approach is applied to some practical structural examples to certify the proposed formulation, and to examine whether the PSOHS performs better than PSO in this class of problems. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the PSOHS and its suitability for design of shear-walls.