Optimizing the Cross-sectional Shapes of Extruded Aluminium Structural Members for Unitized Curtain Wall Facades

When the curtain walls designed for large and recently-constructed buildings by experienced facade engineers are compared with designs developed using the algorithmic techniques described herein, it is consistently the numerically-optimized solutions which are more efficient. The magnitude of the metal savings achieved by applying computational methods will vary from building to building, but this study suggests that in many cases aluminium mass may be reduced by 20% or more.