Theoretical rotational stiffness of the flexible base connection based on parametric study via the whale optimization algorithm

This paper handles the results of an extensive parametric study on the rotational stiffness of the flexible base connection using ABAQUS program. The results of the parametric study show the relation between the applied moment and the relative rotation for 96 different base connections. The configurations of the studied connections considered different numbers, diameters, and spacing of the anchor bolts along with different thicknesses of the base plate to investigate the effect of these parameters on the rotational stiffness behavior. The results of the previous parametric research used through the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) to detect different equation formulation of the moment-rotation (M-0r) equation to detect optimum equation simulates the general nonlinear rotational behavior of the flexible base connection considering all variables used in the parametric study. WOA is a relatively new promising algorithm, which is used in different types of optimization problems. For more verification, the classical genetic algorithm (GA) is used to make a comparison with WOA results. The results show that WOA is capable of getting an optimum equation of the M-0r relation, which can be used to simulate the actual rotational stiffness of the flexible base connections. The rotational stiffness at H/150 can be calculated using WOA (1) method and be used as a design aid for engineering design.