RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO DYNAMIC LOADINGS USING NONLINEAR SFEM

摘要

An efficient and accurate algorithm is proposed to estimate reliability in the time domain for complicated structural systems subjected to seismic loading considering major sources of nonlinearity. The proposed algorithm intelligently integrates the concepts of the response surface method, the iterative perturbation sensitivity analysis technique, the finite element method, and the first-order reliability method. This leads to the stochastic finite element concept. It has the potential to estimate the risk associated with any linear or nonlinear structure that can be represented by a finite element algorithm subjected to seismic loading or any short duration dynamic loadings. To increase its efficiency, the assumed stress-based finite element algorithm is used. The response surface is developed using the saturated and the central composite design concepts. The algorithm is explained with the help of an example. It is verified using the Monte Carlo simulation technique.