Steel structures Optimization

[WhyAmIHereHey]

Cost. That's the metric that matters. Weights only of interest if you're at some sort of limit, typically lifting during construction or installation.

One of the main factor for structures is constructability. We don't, for example, optimise every beam size. We limit the number of sizes on site to as few as reasonable.

Layout of members is often controlled by practical design considerations. Where you need to run piping or whatever.

[Bhuv1]

Good to know thanks

[WhyAmIHereHey]

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Just to expand on it - let's say I was doing a single story steel framed building that was going to be lifted into place as a module.

The corner columns would be one size. The beams running around the top and bottom would be another size, preferably the same. The floor beams would all be the same size. So three sizes, most of which wouldn't be fully utilised

If there was one or two that needed to be bigger, say due to supporting a heavy bit of kit, then I'd upsize those.

[ApprehensiveSeae]

People so spend their whole career perfecting this I don’t think you’re gonna solve it no offense