scholarly journals Reliability-Based Design Optimization of Trusses with Linked-Discrete Design Variables using the Improved Firefly Algorithm

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 964-971
Author(s):  
N. M. Okasha

In this paper, an approach for conducting a Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO) of truss structures with linked-discrete design variables is proposed. The sections of the truss members are selected from the AISC standard tables and thus the design variables that represent the properties of each section are linked. Latin hypercube sampling is used in the evaluation of the structural reliability. The improved firefly algorithm is used for the optimization solution process. It was found that in order to use the improved firefly algorithm for efficiently solving problems of reliability-based design optimization with linked-discrete design variables; it needs to be modified as proposed in this paper to accelerate its convergence.

2005 ◽  
Vol 297-300 ◽  
pp. 1882-1887
Author(s):  
Tae Hee Lee ◽  
Jung Hun Yoo

In practical design applications, most design variables such as thickness, diameter and material properties are not deterministic but stochastic numbers that can be represented by their mean values with variances because of various uncertainties. When the uncertainties related with design variables and manufacturing process are considered in engineering design, the specified reliability of the design can be achieved by using the so-called reliability based design optimization. Reliability based design optimization takes into account the uncertainties in the design in order to meet the user requirement of the specified reliability while seeking optimal solution. Reliability based design optimization of a real system becomes now an emerging technique to achieve reliability, robustness and safety of the design. It is, however, well known that reliability based design optimization can often have so multiple local optima that it cannot converge into the specified reliability. To overcome this difficulty, barrier function approach in reliability based design optimization is proposed in this research and feasible solution with specified reliability index is always provided if a feasible solution is available. To illustrate the proposed formulation, reliability based design optimization of a bracket design is performed. Advanced mean value method and first order reliability method are employed for reliability analysis and their optimization results are compared with reliability index approach based on the accuracy and efficiency.


Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Kanno

AbstractThis study considers structural optimization under a reliability constraint, in which the input distribution is only partially known. Specifically, when it is only known that the expected value vector and the variance-covariance matrix of the input distribution belong to a given convex set, it is required that the failure probability of a structure should be no greater than a specified target value for any realization of the input distribution. We demonstrate that this distributionally-robust reliability constraint can be reduced equivalently to deterministic constraints. By using this reduction, we can handle a reliability-based design optimization problem under the distributionally-robust reliability constraint within the framework of deterministic optimization; in particular, nonlinear semidefinite programming. Two numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the relation between the optimal value and either the target reliability or the uncertainty magnitude.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Wang ◽  
Shengkui Zeng ◽  
Jianbin Guo

Time-dependent reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) has been acknowledged as an advance optimization methodology since it accounts for time-varying stochastic nature of systems. This paper proposes a time-dependent RBDO method considering both of the time-dependent kinematic reliability and the time-dependent structural reliability as constrains. Polynomial chaos combined with the moving least squares (PCMLS) is presented as a nonintrusive time-dependent surrogate model to conduct uncertainty quantification. Wear is considered to be a critical failure that deteriorates the kinematic reliability and the structural reliability through the changing kinematics. According to Archard’s wear law, a multidiscipline reliability model including the kinematics model and the structural finite element (FE) model is constructed to generate the stochastic processes of system responses. These disciplines are closely coupled and uncertainty impacts are cross-propagated to account for the correlationship between the wear process and loads. The new method is applied to an airborne retractable mechanism. The optimization goal is to minimize the mean and the variance of the total weight under both of the time-dependent and the time-independent reliability constraints.


Author(s):  
Heeralal Gargama ◽  
Sanjay K Chaturvedi ◽  
Awalendra K Thakur

The conventional approaches for electromagnetic shielding structures’ design, lack the incorporation of uncertainty in the design variables/parameters. In this paper, a reliability-based design optimization approach for designing electromagnetic shielding structure is proposed. The uncertainties/variability in the design variables/parameters are dealt with using the probabilistic sufficiency factor, which is a factor of safety relative to a target probability of failure. Estimation of probabilistic sufficiency factor requires performance function evaluation at every design point, which is extremely computationally intensive. The computational burden is reduced greatly by evaluating design responses only at the selected design points from the whole design space and employing artificial neural networks to approximate probabilistic sufficiency factor as a function of design variables. Subsequently, the trained artificial neural networks are used for the probabilistic sufficiency factor evaluation in the reliability-based design optimization, where optimization part is processed with the real-coded genetic algorithm. The proposed reliability-based design optimization approach is applied to design a three-layered shielding structure for a shielding effectiveness requirement of ∼40 dB, used in many industrial/commercial applications, and for ∼80 dB used in the military applications.


Author(s):  
P. BHATTACHARJEE ◽  
K. RAMESH KUMAR ◽  
T. A. JANARDHAN REDDY

Optimization of any aerospace product results in increasing payload capacity of space vehicles. Essentially weight, volume and cost are the main constraints. Design optimization studies for aerospace system are increasingly gaining importance. The problem of optimum design under uncertainty has been formulated as reliability-based design optimization. The reliability based optimization, which includes robustness requirements leads to multi-objective optimization under uncertainty. In this paper Reliability, based design optimization study is carried out under linear constraint optimization to minimize the weight of a nitrogen gas bottle with specified target reliability. Response surface method considering full factorial experiment is used to establish multiple regression equation for induced hoop stress and maximum strain. Necessary data pertaining to design, manufacturing and operating conditions are collected systematically for variability study. Structural reliability is evaluated using Advanced First-Order Second-Moment Method (AFOSM). Finally, optimization formulation established and it has been discussed in this paper.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Wu ◽  
Qingpeng Li ◽  
Qingjie Hu ◽  
Andrew Borgart

Firefly Algorithm (FA, for short) is inspired by the social behavior of fireflies and their phenomenon of bioluminescent communication. Based on the fundamentals of FA, two improved strategies are proposed to conduct size and topology optimization for trusses with discrete design variables. Firstly, development of structural topology optimization method and the basic principle of standard FA are introduced in detail. Then, in order to apply the algorithm to optimization problems with discrete variables, the initial positions of fireflies and the position updating formula are discretized. By embedding the random-weight and enhancing the attractiveness, the performance of this algorithm is improved, and thus an Improved Firefly Algorithm (IFA, for short) is proposed. Furthermore, using size variables which are capable of including topology variables and size and topology optimization for trusses with discrete variables is formulated based on the Ground Structure Approach. The essential techniques of variable elastic modulus technology and geometric construction analysis are applied in the structural analysis process. Subsequently, an optimization method for the size and topological design of trusses based on the IFA is introduced. Finally, two numerical examples are shown to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method by comparing with different deterministic methods.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Po Ting Lin ◽  
Hae Chang Gea ◽  
Yogesh Jaluria

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) problems have been intensively studied for many decades. Since Hasofer and Lind [1974, “Exact and Invariant Second-Moment Code Format,” J. Engrg. Mech. Div., 100(EM1), pp. 111–121] defined a measure of the second-moment reliability index, many RBDO methods utilizing the concept of reliability index have been introduced as the reliability index approach (RIA). In the RIA, reliability analysis problems are formulated to find the reliability indices for each performance constraint and the solutions are used to evaluate the failure probability. However, the traditional RIA suffers from inefficiency and convergence problems. In this paper, we revisited the definition of the reliability index and revealed the convergence problem in the traditional RIA. Furthermore, a new definition of the reliability index is proposed to correct this problem and a modified reliability index approach is developed based on this definition. The strategies to solve RBDO problems with non-normally distributed design variables by the modified RIA are also investigated. Numerical examples using both the traditional and modified RIAs are compared and discussed.


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