ABSTRACT
There are two approaches to formulation of the constrained structural optimization problem. In the first and more common approach the design variables are assumed to be continuous (Adeli and Kamal, 1993; Adeli, 1994). In the practical design of steel structures, however, the designer usually must choose from a limited number of commercially available rolled shapes such as the widely used wide flange (W) shapes. Thus, in the second approach to structural optimization, design variables are treated as discrete variables. The number of articles published on the second approach is only a small fraction of the total articles written on structural optimization. Furthermore, discrete structural optimization articles are limited mostly to academic or small examples.
