A non-probabilistic time-variant method for structural reliability analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 234 (5) ◽  
pp. 664-675
Author(s):  
Tengda Xin ◽  
Jiguang Zhao ◽  
Cunyan Cui ◽  
Yongsheng Duan
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Reliability Index ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Probabilistic Method ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Interference Method ◽  
Index Formula ◽  
State Function ◽  
Interval Method ◽  
Variant Method

Time-variant reliability problems commonly occur in practical engineering due to the deterioration in material properties, external disturbance and other uncertain factors. Considering the non-probabilistic method can effectively deal with the uncertainties in reliability analysis. Based on the stress–strength interference method and interval method, a time-variant stress–strength interference interval model is established by considering the stress and strength as time-variant intervals. And then, the stress and strength intervals are converted into the normalized intervals to define the non-probabilistic time-variant reliability index [Formula: see text] according to the different relationships between the limit state function and the normalized intervals. The structural state at any time can be described by the non-probabilistic time-variant reliability index [Formula: see text]. In addition, a strength power exponential degradation model is given as an example to clearly verify the non-probabilistic time-variant method, and the analysis results are compared with the interval method, the uniform distribution stress–strength interference method and the normal distribution stress–strength interference method, which confirm that the non-probabilistic time-variant method is feasible and valid to analyze the structural time-variant reliability without the probability density functions of the parameters.

Response surface method strategies coupled with NLFEA for structural reliability analysis of prestressed bridges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia J. Sarmiento Nova ◽  
Jaime Gonzalez-Libreros ◽  
Gabriel Sas ◽  
Rafael A. Sanabria Díaz ◽  
Maria C. A. Texeira da Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Response Surface ◽  
Response Surface Method ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Material Behavior ◽  
Nonlinear Material ◽  
State Function ◽  
Surface Method ◽  
Highly Nonlinear

<p>The Response Surface Method (RSM) has become an essential tool to solve structural reliability problems due to its accuracy, efficacy, and facility for coupling with Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (NLFEA). In this paper, some strategies to improve the RSM efficacy without compromising its accuracy are tested. Initially, each strategy is implemented to assess the safety level of a highly nonlinear explicit limit state function. The strategy with the best results is then identified and used to carry out a reliability analysis of a prestressed concrete bridge, considering the nonlinear material behavior through NLFEA simulation. The calculated value of &#120573; is compared with the target value established in Eurocode for ULS. The results showed how RSM can be a practical methodology and how the improvements presented can reduce the computational cost of a traditional RSM giving a good alternative to simulation methods such as Monte Carlo.</p>

An Efficient Reliability Analysis Method for Structures With Epistemic Uncertainty Using Evidence Theory

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Zhang ◽  
Chao Jiang ◽  
G. Gary Wang ◽  
Xu Han
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Epistemic Uncertainty ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Evidence Theory ◽  
State Function ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Design Point ◽  
Engineering Problems

Evidence theory has a strong ability to deal with the epistemic uncertainty, based on which the uncertain parameters existing in many complex engineering problems with limited information can be conveniently treated. However, the heavy computational cost caused by its discrete property severely influences the practicability of evidence theory, which has become a main difficulty in structural reliability analysis using evidence theory. This paper aims to develop an efficient method to evaluate the reliability for structures with evidence variables, and hence improves the applicability of evidence theory for engineering problems. A non-probabilistic reliability index approach is introduced to obtain a design point on the limit-state surface. An assistant area is then constructed through the obtained design point, based on which a small number of focal elements can be picked out for extreme analysis instead of using all the elements. The vertex method is used for extreme analysis to obtain the minimum and maximum values of the limit-state function over a focal element. A reliability interval composed of the belief measure and the plausibility measure is finally obtained for the structure. Two numerical examples are investigated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Reliability Analysis of Foundation Pit by Improved Response Surface Method

2011 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
pp. 197-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Zhou ◽  
Jing Cao ◽  
Yu He ◽  
Jie Song
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Response Surface ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Lateral Displacement ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Uniform Design ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
State Function ◽  
Foundation Pit ◽  
Improved Response Surface Method

Lacking of explicit limit state function (LSF) will result large quantities of computational efforts for a FEAM based structural reliability analysis. An improved response surface (RS) method is proposed to analyze the failure probability of foundation pit through combining uniform design (UD) and non-parametric regression (NPR). Deferent levels of design parameters are first delicately selected according to UD and then FEAM is used to analysis corresponding pit response parameters including maximum lateral displacement of wall, settlement of ground, safety factor of overall stability, safety factors of against overturning, heave and piping. The RS relationship is then established through NPR based on inputs and responses. At last, a direct Mont Carlo Simulation is carried out to obtain the probability density function of response parameters.

scholarly journals Reliability Estimation for Highway Bridges

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nafiseh Kiani
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Index ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Highway Bridges ◽  
Reliability Estimation ◽  
State Function ◽  
Limit States ◽  
Resistance Factors ◽  
Load And Resistance Factors ◽  
Reliability Methods

Structural reliability analysis is necessary to predict the uncertainties which may endanger the safety of structures during their lifetime. Structural uncertainties are associated with design, construction and operation stages. In design of structures, different limit states or failure functions are suggested to be considered by design specifications. Load and resistance factors are two essential parameters which have significant impact on evaluating the uncertainties. These load and resistance factors are commonly determined using structural reliability methods. The purpose of this study is to determine the reliability index for a typical highway bridge by considering the maximum moment generated by vehicle live loads on the bridge as a random variable. The limit state function was formulated and reliability index was determined using the First Order Reliability Methods (FORM) method.

scholarly journals Hybrid Reliability Analysis for Spacecraft Docking Lock with Random and Interval Uncertainty

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianguo Zhang ◽  
Jiwei Qiu ◽  
Pidong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Random Variables ◽  
Simple Problem ◽  
State Function ◽  
Limit State Function ◽  
Interval Variables ◽  
Reliability Method ◽  
Hybrid Reliability

This paper presents a novel procedure based on first-order reliability method (FORM) for structural reliability analysis with hybrid variables, that is, random and interval variables. This method can significantly improve the computational efficiency for the abovementioned hybrid reliability analysis (HRA), while generally providing sufficient precision. In the proposed procedure, the hybrid problem is reduced to standard reliability problem with the polar coordinates, where an n-dimensional limit-state function is defined only in terms of two random variables. Firstly, the linear Taylor series is used to approximate the limit-state function around the design point. Subsequently, with the approximation of the n-dimensional limit-state function, the new bidimensional limit state is established by the polar coordinate transformation. And the probability density functions (PDFs) of the two variables can be obtained by the PDFs of random variables and bounds of interval variables. Then, the interval of failure probability is efficiently calculated by the integral method. At last, one simple problem with explicit expressions and one engineering application of spacecraft docking lock are employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Study of Computation for Structural Reliability Index Based on Penalty Function Method

2014 ◽  
Vol 635-637 ◽  
pp. 443-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Tao Lu ◽  
Yu Ge Dong ◽  
Fang Ying Wu
Keyword(s):  
Unconstrained Optimization ◽  
Penalty Function ◽  
Reliability Index ◽  
Function Method ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
State Function ◽  
Penalty Function Method ◽  
Design Point ◽  
Reliability Method

According to the geometric meaning of the structural reliability index, an unconstrained optimization model with structural reliability index and design point is obtained by exterior penalty function method. The Powell method, golden section method and extrapolation method are used to solve the unconstrained optimization problem. The proposed method not has to deal with the any derivative of the limited state function, and can been used to obtain structural reliability index and design point of the strong nonlinear limit state function, which first-order reliability method (FORM) may fail to converge. Three examples are given to compare penalty function method with the difference methods. The results show that the given method is simply, effective and precise enough.

scholarly journals A New SORM Method for Structural Reliability with Hybrid Uncertain Variables

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
Pidong Wang ◽  
Lechang Yang ◽  
Ning Zhao ◽  
Lefei Li ◽  
Dan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Random Variables ◽  
State Function ◽  
Strong Nonlinearity ◽  
Limit State Function ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Uncertain Variables ◽  
Practical Engineering

(1) Background: in practical applications, probabilistic and non-probabilistic information often simultaneously exit. For a complex system with a nonlinear limit-state function, the analysis and evaluation of the reliability are imperative yet challenging tasks. (2) Methods: an improved second-order method is proposed for reliability analysis in the presence of both random and interval variables, where a novel polar transformation is employed. This method enables a unified reliability analysis taking both random variables and bounded intervals into account, simplifying the calculation by transforming a high-dimension limit-state function into a bivariate state function. The obtained nonlinear probability density functions of two variables in the function inherit the statistic characteristics of interval and random variables. The proposed method does not require any strong assumptions and so it can be used in various practical engineering applications. (3) Results: the proposed method is validated via two numerical examples. A comparative study towards a contemporary algorithm in state-of-the-art literature is carried out to demonstrate the benefits of our method. (4) Conclusions: the proposed method outperforms existing methods both in efficiency and accuracy, especially for cases with strong nonlinearity.

Seismic Reliability Analysis of Complex Structure

2012 ◽  
Vol 446-449 ◽  
pp. 2321-2325
Author(s):  
Zhi Yong Zhang ◽  
Wen Bo Huang ◽  
Yue Fa Zhou ◽  
Tian Shu Song
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element Method ◽  
Finite Element ◽  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
State Function ◽  
Limit State Function ◽  
Seismic Reliability ◽  
Element Method

The seismic reliability analysis of complex structure is carried out based on the response surface method and finite element method. Firstly, the appropriate design points are selected based on the mean values and standard deviations of the basic random variables. Secondly, the finite element method is employed to obtain the values of the limit state function of the complex structure. Thirdly, with selected design points and the obtained values of the limit state function of the complex structure, a polynomial function is constructed to approximate the original implicit limit state function. Then, with the established explicit polynomial limit state function and available methods of structural reliability analysis, the seismic reliability of the complex structure is estimated. Numerical analyses show that the established method is simple to use for the evaluation of the reliability analysis of complex structure.

scholarly journals The structural reliability analysis using explicit neural state functions

2019 ◽  
Vol 262 ◽  
pp. 10002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Dudzik ◽  
Beata Potrzeszcz-Sut
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Reliability Index ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Limit State ◽  
Random Variables ◽  
Transformation Method ◽  
Stability Loss ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Component Reliability ◽  
State Functions

The present study considers the problems of stability and reliability of spatial truss susceptible to stability loss from the condition of node snapping. In the reliability analysis of structure, uncertain parameters, such us load magnitudes, cross-sectional area, modulus of elasticity are represented by random variables. Random variables are not correlated. The criterion of structural failure is expressed by the condition of non-exceeding the admissible load multiplier. In the performed analyses explicit form of the random variables function were used. To formulate explicit limit state functions the neural networks is used. In the paper only the time independent component reliability analysis problems are considered. The NUMPRESS software, created at the IFTR PAS, was used in the reliability analysis. The Hasofer-Lind index in conjunction with transformation method in the FORM was used as a reliability measure. The primary research method is the FORM method. In order to verify the correctness of the calculation SORM and Monte Carlo methods are used. The values of reliability index for different descriptions of mathematical model of the structure were determined. The sensitivity of reliability index to the random variables is defined.

scholarly journals High Dimension Model Representation-Based Response Surface for Reliability Analysis of Tunnel

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Hongbo Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Response Surface ◽  
Reliability Index ◽  
Limit State ◽  
State Function ◽  
Limit State Function ◽  
Implicit Function ◽  
Surface Method ◽  
Reliability Method ◽  
Rock Tunnel

Uncertainty is an important prosperity to rock tunnel. Reliability analysis is widely used to deal with the uncertainty. But it is difficult to be adopted in rock tunnel using the traditional reliability method because the limit state function is an implicit function. High dimension model representation (HDMR) can approximate the high dimensional, nonlinear, and implicit function using the low dimensional function. In this study, the HDMR method was adapted to approximate the limit state function through combining with response surface method (RSM). A new reliability analysis approach of HDMR-based response surface method, combined with the first-order reliability method (FORM), is developed to calculate the reliability index of tunnel, and implementation of the method is explained briefly. A circular tunnel with analytical solution and horseshoe tunnel with numerical solution are used to demonstrate the proposed method. The obtained reliability index is in excellent agreement with Low and Tang’s (2007) method and traditional RSM. It shows that HDMR-based response surface can approximate well the limit state function, and the proposed method is an efficient and effective approach for reliability analysis in tunnel engineering. It is very useful for reliability analysis of practical large-scale rock engineering.

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