Optimization of Steel Monopod-Offshore-Towers Under Probabilistic Constraints

In this work, economical design implementation of a circular steel monopod-offshore-tower, which is subjected to the extreme wave loading, is presented. The mass of the tower is considered as the objective function. The thickness and radius of the cross section of the tower are adopted as design variables of the optimization. Moreover, stress or buckling is specified as probabilistic constraints. The numerical strategy employed for performing the optimization uses the International Mathematics and Statistics Library (IMSL) routine that is based on the sequential quadratic programming. The first-order reliability method (FORM) is used for the reliability calculation from a specified limit state function based on the stress or buckling. A demonstration of an example monopod tower is presented. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4000401]