A system reliability-based design optimization for the scraper chain of scraper conveyors with dependent failure modes

Abstract

With the incomplete probability information, the joint probability distribution modelling and system reliability-based optimization design of structural systems with failure interactions are challenging problems in the domain of reliability. This article is designed to propose a system reliability-based optimization design method for optimizing the scraper chain with multiple failure modes. Firstly, the common failure modes of the scraper chain are analysed. For each failure mode, a reliability model for the failure of scraper chains is obtained. Secondly, aiming at the joint failure probability modelling problem, a method for estimating the failure probability of the scraper chain based on system reliability is proposed. The reliability of scraper chains is calculated by the stochastic perturbation technique and the four-moment method. And then, the optimization design problem is discussed based on system reliability. And the optimal model is established. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is verified by the illustrative example of scraper chains. The proposed joint failure probability estimation method and design optimization are shown in the example. The results obtained can provide a reference for the optimal design of the scraper chain.