RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION USING OPTIMUM SAFETY FACTORS FOR LARGE-SCALE PROBLEMS

Introduction. Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO) model reduces the structural weight in uncritical regions, does not only provide an improved design but also a higher level of confidence in the design.Materials and Methods. The classical RBDO approach can be carried out in two separate spaces: the physical space and the normalized space. Since very many repeated researches are needed in the above two spaces, the computational time for such an optimization is a big problem. An efficient method called Optimum Safety Factor (OSF) method is developed and successfully put to use in several engineering applications. Research Results. A numerical application on a large scale problem under  fatigue  loading  shows  the  efficiency of the developed RBDO method relative to the Deterministic Design Optimization (DDO). The efficiency of the OSF method is also extended to multiple failure modes to control several out-put parameters, such as structural volume and damage criterion.Discussion and Conclusions. The simplified implementation framework of the OSF strategy consists of a single optimization problem to evaluate the design point, and a direct evaluation of the optimum solution considering OSF formulations. It provides designers with efficient solutions that should be economic, satisfying a required reliability level with a reduced computing time

Efficient optimum safety factor approach for system reliability-based design optimization with application to composite yarns

Introduction. The integration of reliability and optimization concepts seeks to design structures that should be both economic and reliable. This model is called Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO). In fact, the coupling between the mechanical modelling, the reliability analyses and the optimization methods leads to very high computational cost and weak convergence stability. Materials andMethods. Several methods have been developed to overcome these difficulties. The methods called Reliability Index Approach (RIA) and Performance Measure Approach (PMA) are two alternative methods. RIA describes the probabilistic constraint as a reliability index while PMA was proposed by converting the probability measure to a performance measure. An Optimum Safety Factor (OSF) method is proposed to compute safety factors satisfying a required reliability level without demanding additional computing cost for the reliability evaluation. The OSF equations are formulated considering RIA and PMA and extended to multiple failure case.Research Results. Several linear and nonlinear distribution laws are applied to composite yarns studies and then extended to multiple failure modes. It has been shown that the idea of the OSF method is to avoid the reliability constraint evaluation with a particular optimization process.Discussion and Conclusions. The simplified implementation framework of the OSF strategy consists of decoupling the optimization and the reliability analyses. It provides designers with efficient solutions that should be economic satisfying a required reliability level. It is demonstrated that the RBDO compared to OSF has several advantages: small number of optimization variables, good convergence stability, small computing time, satisfaction of the required reliability levels