Cost optimization of a composite floor system, one-way waffle slab, and concrete slab formwork using a charged system search algorithm

In this paper, the optimum design of some floor systems, including composite slab, one waywaffle slab, and the formwork of a concrete slab, is performed via recently developed meta-heuristicalgorithms, namely, the charged system search (css) and the enhanced charged system search (e-css).the css is a multi-agent approach based on some principles of physics and mechanics. each agent, called acharged particle (cp), is a sphere with uniform charge density that can attract other cps by considering thefitness of the cp. here, optimum designs are based on lrfd-aisc and aci 318-05. the objective function foreach structure is the cost function. this function includes materials used and the construction cost of thestructure. the considered structures are also optimized by the improved harmony search (ihs) algorithmand the results are compared to those of the css.