Assessing structural reliability at the component test stage using real-time hybrid substructuring

Abstract

The propagation of uncertainties through complex systems is a challenging endeavor. While numerical simulations can be used to accurately predict the dynamic performance of structural systems, there are some instances where the dynamics and uncertainties of specific components may be less understood or difficult to accurately model. This paper will implement a structural reliability assessment employing the cyber-physical real-time hybrid substructuring (RTHS) method to combine a numerical model of a larger structural system, incorporating uncertainty in specific parameters, with a physical test specimen of a component of the system while fully incorporating the system-level dynamic interactions and uncertainty propagation. This RTHS approach will allow for uncertainty and reliability to be addressed in the early stage of the design process as components become available and the remainder of the system remains numerically modeled. A small-scale RTHS experiment will be used to demonstrate the probability of failure of a spring-mass-damper system with a relatively small number of component tests by employing the previously proposed Adaptive Kriging-Hybrid Simulation (AK-HS) reliability method.