Efficient Reliability-Based Design Optimization of Degrading Systems Using a Meta-Model of the System Reliability

The application of reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) to degrading systems is challenging because of the continual interplay between calculating time-variant reliability (to ensure reliability policies are met) and moving the design point to optimize various objectives, such as cost, weight, size and so forth. The time needed for Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is lengthy when reliability calculations are required for each iteration of the design point. The common methods used to date to improve efficiency have some shortcomings: First, most approaches approximate probability via a method that invokes the most-likely failure point (MLFP), and second, tolerances are almost always excluded from the list of design parameters (hence only so-called parameter design is performed), and, without tolerances, true monetary costs cannot be determined, especially in manufactured systems. Herein, the efficiency of RBDO for degrading systems is greatly improved by essentially uncoupling the time-variant reliability problem from the optimization problem. First, a meta-model is built to relate time-variant reliability to the design space. Design of experiment techniques helps to select a few judicious training sets. Second, the meta-model is accessed to quickly evaluate objectives and reliability constraints in the optimization process. The set-theory approach (with MCS) is invoked to find the system reliability accurately and efficiently for multiple competing performance measures. For a case study, the seminal roller clutch with degradation due to wear is examined. The meta-model method, using both moving least-squares and kriging (using DACE in Matlab), is compared to the traditional approach whereby reliability is determined by MCS at each optimization iteration. The case study shows that both means and tolerances are found that correctly minimize a monetary cost objective and yet ensure that reliability policies are met. The meta-model approach is simple, accurate and very fast, suggesting an attractive means for RBDO of time-variant systems.