Confidence bounds on failure probability using MHDMR

Abstract

The structural reliability analysis in presence of mixed uncertain variables demands more computation as the entire configuration of fuzzy variables needs to be explored. Moreover the existence of multiple design points plays an important role in the accuracy of results as the optimization algorithms may converge to a local design point by neglecting the main contribution from the global design point. Therefore, in this paper a novel uncertain analysis method for estimating the failure probability bounds of structural systems involving multiple design points in presence of mixed uncertain variables is presented. The proposed method involves weight function to identify multiple design points, multicut-high dimensional model representation technique for the limit state function approximation, transformation technique to obtain the contribution of the fuzzy variables to the convolution integral and fast Fourier transform for solving the convolution integral. In the proposed method, efforts are required in evaluating conditional responses at a selected input determined by sample points, as compared to full scale simulation methods. Therefore, the proposed technique estimates the failure probability accurately with significantly less computational effort compared to the direct Monte Carlo simulation. The methodology developed is applicable for structural reliability analysis involving any number of fuzzy and random variables with any kind of distribution. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated through two examples.