This paper presents an effective method of network overload management in power systems. The three competing objectives 1) generation cost 2) transmission line overload and 3) real power loss are optimized to provide pareto-optimal solutions. A fuzzy ranking based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is used to solve this complex nonlinear optimization problem. The minimization of competing objectives is done by generation rescheduling. Fuzzy ranking method is employed to extract the best compromise solution out of the available non-dominated solutions depending upon its highest rank. N-1 contingency analysis is carried out to identify the most severe lines and those lines are selected for outage. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated for different contingency cases in IEEE 30 and IEEE 118 bus systems with smooth cost functions and their results are compared with other single objective evolutionary algorithms like Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Differential evolution (DE). Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach to generate well distributed pareto-optimal non-dominated solutions of multi-objective problem

A quantitative study is performed to determine the performance degradation of Y-shaped reinforced concrete bridge piers owing to long-term freeze-thaw damage. The piers are discretized into spatial solid elements using the ANSYS Workbench finite element analysis software, and a spatial model is established. The analysis addresses the mechanical performance of the piers under monotonic loading, and their seismic performance under low-cycle repeated loading. The influence of the number of freeze-thaw cycles, axial compression ratio, and loading direction on the pier bearing capacity index and seismic performance index is investigated. The results show that freeze-thaw damage has an adverse effect on the ultimate bearing capacity and seismic performance of Y-shaped bridge piers in the transverse and longitudinal directions. The pier peak load and displacement ductility coefficient decrease with increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles. The axial compression ratio is an important factor that affects the pier ultimate bearing capacity and seismic performance. Upon increasing the axial compression ratio, the pier peak load increases and the displacement ductility coefficient decreases, the effects of which are more significant in the longitudinal direction.