Topological Optimization for Environmental Sustainability in Civil Engineering Structures Design

Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable and cost-efficient construction highlights the need to minimize material consumption in civil engineering structures without compromising safety or performance. This study investigates the optimization of steel purlin cross-sections in metal buildings as a means to enhance structural efficiency and environmental sustainability. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and the Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method were employed to identify optimal material distributions and evaluate the effects of varying cross-section geometries. Both rectangular and IPE purlin sections were analyzed under realistic loading conditions to compare stress, deformation, and weight performance before and after optimization. The results demonstrate that substantial reductions in material mass, up to approximately 25-30%, can be achieved while maintaining nearly identical stress and displacement responses. These findings confirm that structural optimization effectively reduces both construction costs and environmental impact. The study concludes by recommending the adoption of topology and cross-section optimization techniques in the design of steel structures, particularly in public projects, to promote resource efficiency and sustainable construction practices.

Keywords

Topology optimization / Shape optimization / Finite element analysis / Structural design / Design constraints / Evolutionary algorithms / Sustainable design

Author Contributions

T.M., A.M. and M.P.: investigation, software, formal analysis, writing review, and editing; G.E.S.: methodology; N.V.: supervision, validation. All the authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding authors.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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