COMPDYN 2017 6 th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering M. Papadrakakis, M. Fragiadakis (eds.) Rhodes Island, Greece, 15–17 June 2017 ON THE USE OF GENETIC ALGORITHMS TO ASSESS THE SEISMIC RESISTANCE OF PLANAR FRAME STRUCTURES A. Greco 1 , F. Cannizzaro 1 , and A. Pluchino 2 1 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania Via Santa Sofia, 64 - 95125 Catania, Italy e-mail: {agreco,francesco.cannizzaro}@dica.unict.it 2 Department of Physics and Astronomy Via Santa Sofia, 64 - 95125 Catania, Italy e-mail: alessandro@pluchino.it Keywords: Limit analysis, Seismic behaviour, Elementary mechanisms method, Genetic al- gorithms, NetLogo. Abstract. Limit analysis represents a widely adopted strategy for the assessment of the bear- ing capacity and collapse mechanism of frame structures. Within this framework, in this pa- per an original strategy for the effective evaluation of the ultimate resistance and the corresponding failure mechanism of planar frame structures subjected to lateral loads is pre- sented. The methodology is based on the generation of the elementary collapse mechanisms to be combined following a collapse load factor minimization criterion. When a large number of possible combinations has to be investigated a prompt procedure able to quickly converge to the actual collapse load factor and to jump out of local minima is needed. For this reason a procedure based on genetic algorithms is here adopted and a dedicated user-friendly soft- ware was developed in the NetLogo programming environment. Validations of the proposed procedure with respect to nonlinear static analysis are reported together with some signifi- cant sensitivity analyses with respect to load distribution parameters. The results demonstrate the reliability of the procedure and can provide useful information also in view of seismic de- sign optimization strategies. 4076 Available online at www.eccomasproceedia.org Eccomas Proceedia COMPDYN (2017) 4076-4087 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Eccomas Proceedia. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of COMPDYN 2017. doi: 10.7712/120117.5706.18227