The production of concrete generates roughly 8% of anthropogenic CO2 globally, largely because of the massive quantities that are manufactured. New design methods must be developed and deployed to improve the material efficiency of reinforced concrete structures, and reduce concrete's carbon impact. This research uses topology optimization, a free-form structural optimization method, for improved structural design. Two topology optimization frameworks are developed specifically for reinforced concrete design and construction. The automated design algorithms are used to generate geometries for materially-efficient reinforced concrete beams, which are fabricated and tested to compare performance to conventional design. The optimized results exhibit ductile failure and reach loads 36%-42% higher than the conventional design with the same material consumption. Through comparison to analytical models, the observed potential for material reduction while maintaining today's performance requirements without adding structural depth is around 33%, indicating a viable path forward in reaching carbon neutrality of reinforced concrete construction.

翻译：混凝土生产约贡献全球人为二氧化碳排放量的8%，主要原因在于其巨大的制造规模。为提升钢筋混凝土结构的材料效率并降低其碳足迹，亟待开发与部署新型设计方法。本研究采用拓扑优化——一种自由形态结构优化方法——以改进结构设计。针对钢筋混凝土设计与建造，本文专门开发了两套拓扑优化框架。通过自动化设计算法生成材料高效型钢筋混凝土梁的几何构型，并对其实施制造与测试，以评估其与传统设计方案的性能差异。优化结果呈现延性破坏特征，且在材料消耗相同的条件下，其承载能力比传统设计高出36%-42%。通过与解析模型对比，在保持现有性能要求且不增加结构厚度的前提下，材料削减潜力约为33%，这为实现钢筋混凝土建筑的碳中和目标提供了可行路径。