A multiple-design-point approach for reliability-based design optimization

ABSTRACT

The application of design-point-based reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) methods is hindered by the challenge of multiple-design-point problems. In this article, to improve the commonality of design-point-based RBDO methods, a novel multiple-design-point (MDP) approach is developed. The MDP approach uses the trace of the design points from consequent reliability analysis iterations to identify whether there are multiple design points, then all of the design points are used to calculate shifting vectors for the sequential optimization and reliability assessment method, and the corresponding probabilistic constraints are moved to the feasible region along these multiple shifting vectors at the same time. With multiple shifted probabilistic constraints, the design feasibility associated with this probabilistic constraint will be satisfied. Two mathematical examples, a speed reducer design and a honeycomb crashworthiness design, are presented to validate the effectiveness of the MDP method. The results show that the MDP approach is effective for handling multiple-design-point problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple design points
• reliability analysis
• reliability-based design
• uncertainty optimization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Zhenzhong Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4101-8966

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2017YFB1304000]; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number 2018M630383]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China [grant number 18D110316]; and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51405302] are gratefully acknowledged.