A collocation interval analysis method for interval structural parameters and stochastic excitation

Uncertainty propagation, one of the structural engineering problems, is receiving increasing attention owing to the fact that most significant loads are random in nature and structural parameters are typically subject to variation. In the study, the collocation interval analysis method based on the first class Chebyshev polynomial approximation is presented to investigate the least favorable responses and the most favorable responses of interval-parameter structures under random excitations. Compared with the interval analysis method based on the first order Taylor expansion, in which only information including the function value and derivative at midpoint is used, the collocation interval analysis method is a non-gradient algorithm using several collocation points which improve the precision of results owing to better approximation of a response function. The pseudo excitation method is introduced to the solving procedure to transform the random problem into a deterministic problem. To validate the procedure, we present numerical results concerning a building under seismic ground motion and aerofoil under continuous atmosphere turbulence to show the effectiveness of the collocation interval analysis method.