Optimal design of a non-prismatic reinforced concrete box girder bridge with three meta-heuristic algorithms

In this paper a parametric study is applied to investigate the effect of the number of cells in optimal cost of the non-prismatic reinforced concrete (RC) box girder bridges. The variables are geometry of cross section, tapered length, concrete strength and reinforcement of the box girders and slabs that are obtained with ECBO metaheuristic algorithm. The design is based on AASHTO standard specification. The constraints are the bending and shear strength, geometric limitations and superstructure deflection. The link of CSiBridge and MATLAB software are used for the optimization process. The methodology is carried out for two-cell, three-cell and four-cell box girder bridges. The results show that the total cost of concrete, bars and formwork for two-cell box girder is less than three- and four-cell box girder bridges.