A Novel Technique for Evaluating Failure Probability of Random Structure

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to develop a new methodology to evaluate the statistical characteristic of the response of structures subjecting to random excitation, by combining the Finite Element Method (FEM) with the Transforming Density Function (TDF). Uncertainty modeling of structure with random variables encourages the coupling of advanced TDF for reliability analysis to analyze problems of stochastic mechanical systems. The TDF is enthusiastically applicable in the situation where the relationship between input and output of structures is available in explicit analytical form. However, the situation is much more involved when it is necessary to perform the evaluation of implicit expression between input and output of structures through numerical models. For this aim, we propose a new technique that combines the FEM software, and the TDF method to evaluate the most important statistical parameter the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the response where the expression between input and output of structures is implicit. Once the PDF is evaluated, all other statistical parameters are derived easily. This technique is based on the numerical simulations of the FEM and the TDF by making a middleware between Finite Element software and Matlab. Some problems, range from simple to complex, of structures are analyzed using our proposed technique. Its accuracy is validated through Monte-Carlo simulation.