An efficient resizing technique for the design of tall steel buildings subject to multiple drift constraints

This paper presents an efficient resizing technique for the optimum design of tall steel building frameworks. Specifically, an ‘optimality criteria’ method is applied to minimize the weight of a lateral load‐resisting structural system of fixed topology subject to constraints on interstorey drift. By exploiting the fact for building frameworks that member forces are relatively insensitive to changes in member sizes, rigorously‐derived optimality criteria are shown to be readily satisfied through an iterative pseudo‐discrete optimization procedure that converges in but a few cycles to a least‐weight design using commercial‐standard steel sections. While not considered herein, it is a simple matter to extend the stiffness‐based design procedure to account also for strength requirements. Two building framework examples are presented to illustrate the features of the design optimization method.