A new structural reliability analysis method in presence of mixed uncertainty variables

For structures with both random and fuzzy uncertainty, this paper presents a novel method for determining the membership function in fuzzy reliability with the Automatic Updating Extreme Response Surface (AUERS) method. In the proposed method, fuzzy variables are initially converted into a value domain under the given cut level and the extreme point in the domain where the reliability reaches its extreme value is considered. Second, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to determine the extreme point according to the extreme responses for different sets of random sample inputs. A kriging response surface is subsequently constructed between the random variables and the corresponding extreme points. An automatic updating strategy is then introduced based on the Relative Mean Square Predicted Error (RMSPE) before performing every iteration of reliability analysis. By adding new sample points, the approximate quality of the kriging response surface is improved. Finally, reliability analysis is used to determine the reliability bound under the given cut level. The proposed method assures the accuracy and computation efficiency of the mixed uncertainty reliability analysis results while it prevents the solution from becoming trapped in a local optimum, which occurs in classical optimization methods. Two example analyses are used to demonstrate the validity and advantages of the proposed method.