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In general, the require reinforcment analysis of reinforced concrete structure is based on the initial designed cross- section subjected to the maximum loading. If the spacing between the bars and the analysis section is not enough to meet the minimum requirement, the process of analysis and design must be repeated again. A pilot computer program is developed for the optimal preliminary design of reinforced concrete beams in this paper. The width, depth, and longitudinal reinforcement of the beam cross-section are taken as the design variables. The objective function combines a cost function and a stiffness function into a utility function which is to minimize the cost and maximize the stiffness of the reinforced concrete beam and in which the relative importance of each part is reflected by weighting coefficients. Constraint conditions are based on the specifications of the ACI-code(318-89). The purpose of this paper is to provide a decision making problem for the civil engineering as well as an optimization technique to solve this problem.
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