Optimization

The definition of the physical reinforcement can be controlled by the engineer in order to optimize the automatic generation of the 3D rebar model and produce an outcome that satisfies several objectives.

The requirements of the engineer are captured by means of weighting factors which act on particular goals, increasing or decreasing their relevance during the generation process.

These factors are stored in the constraints file:

//$ weighting factors ( >1.0 increases effect, <1.0 decreases effect, 0.0 no effect)
//$ F1: try to use as less bars as possible (increase rather diameter than number)
//$ F2: try to reduce difference between inserted and required reinforcement
//$ F3: try to avoid using multiple layers of reinforcement (bending beams only)
//$ F4: prefer to use same diameter for base and supplemental reinforcement
//$ F5-F8: reserved
W_FACTORS = [ 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 ]