Application of Cellular Automata in Shape Optimization of Brick Masonry Catenary arches under Dynamic Loads

Masonry arch is one of the oldest structural elements. Brick masonry arches have been used for hundreds of years. Since traditional methods in determination of optimum shape of structures don’t scale well so a new and novel method is introduced. Structural optimization of structures with respect to their shape is studied using cellular automata.This study explores the application of a simplified approach to the geometrical definition of catenary arches and considers the problem of optimal shaping of catenary arch subjected to dynamic loads. Catenary arch is analyzed and optimized under acceleration–time components of Elcentro earthquake. Numerical examples are presented to demonastrate the efficiency and reliability of the proposed method for shape optimization. For catenary arch response optimization, the results were used in cellular automata computational model. Then using provided rules for modeling, the mentioned catenary arches are analyzed and optimized. The results of error range and time of analysis in automata cellular model and FEM software compared. Finally comparing the results of CA (Cellular Automata) method and FEM (Finite Element Method) method, the efficiency and effectiveness of CA method was determined. By using the structural parameters obtained from the dynamic tests, a calibrated model was obtained and this model was used for providing rules for modeling. It is shown that the number of finite element analysis is minimal and the procedures provides a highly efficient method of arch shape optimization.The results show that in the proposed method, precision is less but the time and efforts of computation will be reduced.