Equivalent Linearization Techniques

The method of equivalent linearization of Kryloff and Bogoliubov is generalized to the case of nonlinear dynamic systems with random excitation. The method is applied to a variety of problems, and the results are compared with exact solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation for those cases where the Fokker-Planck technique may be applied. Alternate approaches to the problem are discussed, including the characteristic function method of Rice

Response of the Bilinear Hysteretic System to Stationary Random Excitation

Time-average statistics of the response of the bilinear hysteretic system to an excitation with approximately white-power spectral density and approximately Gaussian probability distribution are determined, using electronic-analog techniques. Results are presented for the mean-squared amplitude, the power spectral density, and the probability distribution of the response. The applicability of the Krylov-Bogoliubov method of equivalent linearization to this problem is investigated by comparing predicted and experimentally measured values of the mean-squared level of response

Response statistics and failure probability determination of nonlinear stochastic structural dynamical systems

Novel approximation techniques are proposed for the analysis and evaluation of nonlinear dynamical systems in the field of stochastic dynamics. Efficient determination of response statistics and reliability estimates for nonlinear systems remains challenging, especially those with singular matrices or endowed with fractional derivative elements. This thesis addresses the challenges of three main topics. The first topic relates to the determination of response statistics of multi-degree-of-freedom nonlinear systems with singular matrices subject to combined deterministic and stochastic excitations. Notably, singular matrices can appear in the governing equations of motion of engineering systems for various reasons, such as due to a redundant coordinates modeling or due to modeling with additional constraint equations. Moreover, it is common for nonlinear systems to experience both stochastic and deterministic excitations simultaneously. In this context, first, a novel solution framework is developed for determining the response of such systems subject to combined deterministic and stochastic excitation of the stationary kind. This is achieved by using the harmonic balance method and the generalized statistical linearization method. An over-determined system of equations is generated and solved by resorting to generalized matrix inverse theory. Subsequently, the developed framework is appropriately extended to systems subject to a mixture of deterministic and stochastic excitations of the non-stationary kind. The generalized statistical linearization method is used to handle the nonlinear subsystem subject to non-stationary stochastic excitation, which, in conjunction with a state space formulation, forms a matrix differential equation governing the stochastic response. Then, the developed equations are solved by numerical methods. The accuracy for the proposed techniques has been demonstrated by considering nonlinear structural systems with redundant coordinates modeling, as well as a piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting device have been employed in the relevant application part. The second topic relates to code-compliant stochastic dynamic analysis of nonlinear structural systems with fractional derivative elements. First, a novel approximation method is proposed to efficiently determine the peak response of nonlinear structural systems with fractional derivative elements subject to excitation compatible with a given seismic design spectrum. The proposed methods involve deriving an excitation evolutionary power spectrum that matches the design spectrum in a stochastic sense. The peak response is approximated by utilizing equivalent linear elements, in conjunction with code-compliant design spectra, hopefully rendering it favorable to engineers of practice. Nonlinear structural systems endowed with fractional derivative terms in the governing equations of motion have been considered. A particular attribute pertains to utilizing localized time-dependent equivalent linear elements, which is superior to classical approaches utilizing standard time-invariant statistical linearization method. Then, the approximation method is extended to perform stochastic incremental dynamical analysis for nonlinear structural systems with fractional derivative elements exposed to stochastic excitations aligned with contemporary aseismic codes. The proposed method is achieved by resorting to the combination of stochastic averaging and statistical linearization methods, resulting in an efficient and comprehensive way to obtain the response displacement probability density function. A stochastic incremental dynamical analysis surface is generated instead of the traditional curves, leading to a reliable higher order statistics of the system response. Lastly, the problem of the first excursion probability of nonlinear dynamic systems subject to imprecisely defined stochastic Gaussian loads is considered. This involves solving a nested double-loop problem, generally intractable without resorting to surrogate modeling schemes. To overcome these challenges, this thesis first proposes a generalized operator norm framework based on statistical linearization method. Its efficiency is achieved by breaking the double loop and determining the values of the epistemic uncertain parameters that produce bounds on the probability of failure a priori. The proposed framework can significantly reduce the computational burden and provide a reliable estimate of the probability of failure

Variance estimation for a low-income proportion

Proportions below a given fraction of a quantile of an income distribution are often estimated from survey data in poverty comparisons. We consider the estimation of the variance of such a proportion, estimated from Family Expenditure Survey data. We show how a linearization method of variance estimation may be applied to this proportion, allowing for the effects of both a complex sampling design and weighting by a raking method to population controls. We show that, for 1998-99 data, the estimated variances are always increased when allowance is made for the design and raking weights, the principal effect arising from the design. We also study the properties of a simplified variance estimator and discuss extensions to a wider class of poverty measures

A moment-equation-copula-closure method for nonlinear vibrational systems subjected to correlated noise

We develop a moment equation closure minimization method for the inexpensive approximation of the steady state statistical structure of nonlinear systems whose potential functions have bimodal shapes and which are subjected to correlated excitations. Our approach relies on the derivation of moment equations that describe the dynamics governing the two-time statistics. These are combined with a non-Gaussian pdf representation for the joint response-excitation statistics that has i) single time statistical structure consistent with the analytical solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation, and ii) two-time statistical structure with Gaussian characteristics. Through the adopted pdf representation, we derive a closure scheme which we formulate in terms of a consistency condition involving the second order statistics of the response, the closure constraint. A similar condition, the dynamics constraint, is also derived directly through the moment equations. These two constraints are formulated as a low-dimensional minimization problem with respect to unknown parameters of the representation, the minimization of which imposes an interplay between the dynamics and the adopted closure. The new method allows for the semi-analytical representation of the two-time, non-Gaussian structure of the solution as well as the joint statistical structure of the response-excitation over different time instants. We demonstrate its effectiveness through the application on bistable nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom energy harvesters with mechanical and electromagnetic damping, and we show that the results compare favorably with direct Monte-Carlo Simulations

Derivation of equivalent linear properties of Bouc-Wen hysteretic systems for seismic response spectrum analysis via statistical linearization

A newly proposed statistical linearization based formulation is used to derive effective linear properties (ELPs), namely damping ratio and natural frequency, for stochastically excited hysteretic oscillatorsinvolving the Bouc-Wen force-deformation phenomenological model. This is achieved by first using a frequency domain statistical linearization step to substitute a Bouc-Wen oscillator by a third order linear system. Next, this third order linear system is reduced to a second order linear oscillator characterized by a set of ELPs by enforcing equality of certain response statistics of the two linear systems. The proposed formulation is utilized in conjunction with quasi-stationary stochastic processes compatible with elastic response spectra commonly used to represent the input seismic action in earthquake resistant design of structures. Then, the derived ELPs are used to estimate the peak response of Bouc-Wen hysteretic oscillators without numerical integration of the nonlinear equation of motion; this is done in the context of linear response spectrum-based dynamic analysis. Numerical results pertaining to the elastic response spectrum of the current European aseismic code provisions (EC8) are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach. These results are supported by pertinent Monte Carlo simulations involving an ensemble of non-stationary EC8 spectrum compatible accelerograms. The proposed approach can hopefully be an effective tool in the preliminary aseismic design stages of yielding structures and structural members commonly represented by the Bouc-Wen hysteretic model within either a force-based or a displacement-based context

A Method for the Combination of Stochastic Time Varying Load Effects

The problem of evaluating the probability that a structure becomes unsafe under a combination of loads, over a given time period, is addressed. The loads and load effects are modeled as either pulse (static problem) processes with random occurrence time, intensity and a specified shape or intermittent continuous (dynamic problem) processes which are zero mean Gaussian processes superimposed 'on a pulse process. The load coincidence method is extended to problems with both nonlinear limit states and dynamic responses, including the case of correlated dynamic responses. The technique of linearization of a nonlinear limit state commonly used in a time-invariant problem is investigated for timevarying combination problems, with emphasis on selecting the linearization point. Results are compared with other methods, namely the method based on upcrossing rate, simpler combination rules such as Square Root of Sum of Squares and Turkstra's rule. Correlated effects among dynamic loads are examined to see how results differ from correlated static loads and to demonstrate which types of load dependencies are most important, i.e., affect' the exceedance probabilities the most. Application of the load coincidence method to code development is briefly discussed.National Science Foundation Grants CME 79-18053 and CEE 82-0759

Direct evaluation of dynamical large-deviation rate functions using a variational ansatz

We describe a simple form of importance sampling designed to bound and compute large-deviation rate functions for time-extensive dynamical observables in continuous-time Markov chains. We start with a model, defined by a set of rates, and a time-extensive dynamical observable. We construct a reference model, a variational ansatz for the behavior of the original model conditioned on atypical values of the observable. Direct simulation of the reference model provides an upper bound on the large-deviation rate function associated with the original model, an estimate of the tightness of the bound, and, if the ansatz is chosen well, the exact rate function. The exact rare behavior of the original model does not need to be known in advance. We use this method to calculate rate functions for currents and counting observables in a set of network- and lattice models taken from the literature. Straightforward ansatze yield bounds that are tighter than bounds obtained from Level 2.5 of large deviations via approximations that involve uniform scalings of rates. We show how to correct these bounds in order to recover the rate functions exactly. Our approach is complementary to more specialized methods, and offers a physically transparent framework for approximating and calculating the likelihood of dynamical large deviations