UNIFORM DESIGN RESPONSE SURFACE METHOD FOR STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

The chosen experiment points of a uniform design (UD) is generally more uniform and representative than an orthogonal design (OD), even though in the case that the trial numbers of the two experiment design methods are near. In this paper, a new numerical simulation method for structural reliability analyses is firstly proposed, which incorporates a uniform design into the conventional response surface method, herein named as uniform design response surface method (UDRSM). And then, a hybrid simulation method (HSM) combing Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) and UDRSM is put forward. The simulation process of the new method includes the following steps: (1) choosing testing points, (2) constructing response surface equation, and (3) calculating structural reliability. The two new methods are all implemented in ANSYS by using the deterministic finite element method. A portal frame is taken as a numerical example. The accuracy and efficiency of the new methods are demonstrated by contrasting the new proposed method with the classical numerical simulation methods including Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and orthogonal design response surface method (ODRSM). It is shown that the limit state function of UDRSM is more accurate than other methods, and that HSM is more efficient than others.