Saddlepoint Approximation Method in Reliability Analysis:A Review

The escalating need for reliability analysis(RA)and reliability-based design optimization(RBDO)within engineering challenges has prompted the advancement of saddlepoint approximationmethods(SAM)tailored for such problems.This article offers a detailed overview of the general SAM and summarizes the method characteristics first.Subsequently,recent enhancements in the SAM theoretical framework are assessed.Notably,the mean value first-order saddlepoint approximation(MVFOSA)bears resemblance to the conceptual framework of the mean value second-order saddlepoint approximation(MVSOSA);the latter serves as an auxiliary approach to the former.Their distinction is rooted in the varying expansion orders of the performance function as implemented through the Taylor method.Both the saddlepoint approximation and third-moment(SATM)and saddlepoint approximation and fourth-moment(SAFM)strategies model the cumulant generating function(CGF)by leveraging the initial random moments of the function.Although their optimal application domains diverge,each method consistently ensures superior relative precision,enhanced efficiency,and sustained stability.Every method elucidated is exemplified through pertinent RA or RBDO scenarios.By juxtaposing them against alternative strategies,the efficacy of these methods becomes evident.The outcomes proffered are subsequently employed as a foundation for contemplating prospective theoretical and practical research endeavors concerning SAMs.The main purpose and value of this article is to review the SAM and reliability-related issues,which can provide some reference and inspiration for future research scholars in this field.

Two-Stream Approximation to the Radiative Transfer Equation:A New Improvement and Comparative Accuracy with Existing Methods

Mathematical modeling of the interaction between solar radiation and the Earth's atmosphere is formalized by the radiative transfer equation(RTE), whose resolution calls for two-stream approximations among other methods. This paper proposes a new two-stream approximation of the RTE with the development of the phase function and the intensity into a third-order series of Legendre polynomials. This new approach, which adds one more term in the expression of the intensity and the phase function, allows in the conditions of a plane parallel atmosphere a new mathematical formulation of γparameters. It is then compared to the Eddington, Hemispheric Constant, Quadrature, Combined Delta Function and Modified Eddington, and second-order approximation methods with reference to the Discrete Ordinate(Disort) method(δ –128 streams), considered as the most precise. This work also determines the conversion function of the proposed New Method using the fundamental definition of two-stream approximation(F-TSA) developed in a previous work. Notably,New Method has generally better precision compared to the second-order approximation and Hemispheric Constant methods. Compared to the Quadrature and Eddington methods, New Method shows very good precision for wide domains of the zenith angle μ 0, but tends to deviate from the Disort method with the zenith angle, especially for high values of optical thickness. In spite of this divergence in reflectance for high values of optical thickness, very strong correlation with the Disort method(R ≈ 1) was obtained for most cases of optical thickness in this study. An analysis of the Legendre polynomial series for simple functions shows that the high precision is due to the fact that the approximated functions ameliorate the accuracy when the order of approximation increases, although it has been proven that there is a limit order depending on the function from which the precision is lost. This observation indicates that increasing the order of approximation of the phase function of the RTE leads to a better precision in flux calculations. However, this approach may be limited to a certain order that has not been studied in this paper.

Wave equation tomographic velocity inversion method based on the Born/Rytov approximation

This paper discusses Born/Rytov approximation tomographic velocity inversion methods constrained by the Fresnel zone. Calculations of the sensitivity kernel function and traveltime residuals are critical in tomographic velocity inversion. Based on the Bom/Rytov approximation of the frequency-domain wave equation, we derive the traveltime sensitivity kemels of the wave equation on the band-limited wave field and simultaneously obtain the traveltime residuals based on the Rytov approximation. In contrast to single-ray tomography, the modified velocity inversion method improves the inversion stability. Tests of the near- surface velocity model and field data prove that the proposed method has higher accuracy and Computational efficiency than ray theory tomography and full waveform inversion methods.

Design and Implementation of Digital Fractional Order PID Controller Using Optimal Pole-Zero Approximation Method for Magnetic Levitation System

The aim of this paper is to employ fractional order proportional integral derivative(FO-PID)controller and integer order PID controller to control the position of the levitated object in a magnetic levitation system(MLS),which is inherently nonlinear and unstable system.The proposal is to deploy discrete optimal pole-zero approximation method for realization of digital fractional order controller.An approach of phase shaping by slope cancellation of asymptotic phase plots for zeros and poles within given bandwidth is explored.The controller parameters are tuned using dynamic particle swarm optimization(d PSO)technique.Effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by simulation and experimental results.The performance of realized digital FO-PID controller has been compared with that of the integer order PID controllers.It is observed that effort required in fractional order control is smaller as compared with its integer counterpart for obtaining the same system performance.

Viscosity approximation methods with weakly contractive mappings for nonexpansive mappings

Let K be a closed convex subset of a real reflexive Banach space E, T：K→K be a nonexpansive mapping, and f：K→K be a fixed weakly contractive （may not be contractive） mapping. Then for any t∈（0, 1）, let x1∈K be the unique fixed point of the weak contraction x1→tf（x）＋（1-t）Tx. If T has a fixed point and E admits a weakly sequentially continuous duality mapping from E to E^＊, then it is shown that {xt} converges to a fixed point of T as t→0. The results presented here improve and generalize the corresponding results in （Xu, 2004）.

A STUDY ON THE WEIGHT FUNCTION OF THE MOVING LEAST SQUARE APPROXIMATION IN THE LOCAL BOUNDARY INTEGRAL EQUATION METHOD

The meshless method is a new numerical technique presented in recent years.It uses the moving least square(MLS)approximation as a shape function.The smoothness of the MLS approximation is determined by that of the basic function and of the weight function,and is mainly determined by that of the weight function.Therefore,the weight function greatly affects the accuracy of results obtained.Different kinds of weight functions,such as the spline function, the Gauss function and so on,are proposed recently by many researchers.In the present work,the features of various weight functions are illustrated through solving elasto-static problems using the local boundary integral equation method.The effect of various weight functions on the accuracy, convergence and stability of results obtained is also discussed.Examples show that the weight function proposed by Zhou Weiyuan and Gauss and the quartic spline weight function are better than the others if parameters c and α in Gauss and exponential weight functions are in the range of reasonable values,respectively,and the higher the smoothness of the weight function,the better the features of the solutions.

A generalized Padé approximation method of solving homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits of strongly nonlinear autonomous oscillators

An intrinsic extension of Pad′e approximation method, called the generalized Pad′e approximation method, is proposed based on the classic Pad′e approximation theorem. According to the proposed method, the numerator and denominator of Pad′e approximant are extended from polynomial functions to a series composed of any kind of function, which means that the generalized Pad′e approximant is not limited to some forms, but can be constructed in different forms in solving different problems. Thus, many existing modifications of Pad′e approximation method can be considered to be the special cases of the proposed method. For solving homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits of strongly nonlinear autonomous oscillators, two novel kinds of generalized Pad′e approximants are constructed. Then, some examples are given to show the validity of the present method. To show the accuracy of the method, all solutions obtained in this paper are compared with those of the Runge–Kutta method.

AN APPROXIMATION METHOD TO ESTIMATE THE HAUSDORFF MEASURE OF THE SIERPINSKI GASKET

In this paper, we firstly define a decreasing sequence {Pn(S)} by the generation of the Sierpinski gasket where each Pn(S) can be obtained in finite steps. Then we prove that the Hausdorff measure Hs(S) of the Sierpinski gasket S can be approximated by {Pn(S)} with Pn(S)/(l + l/2n-3)s≤Hs(S)≤ Pn(S). An algorithm is presented to get Pn(S) for n ≤5. As an application, we obtain the best lower bound of Hs(S) till now: Hs(S)≥0.5631.

OPTIMAL INTERIOR PARTIAL REGULARITY FOR NONLINEAR ELLIPTIC SYSTEMS UNDER THE NATURAL GROWTH CONDITION:THE METHOD OF A-HARMONIC APPROXIMATION

In this article, the authors consider the nonlinear elliptic systems under the natural growth condition. They use a new method introduced by Duzaar and Grotowski, for proving partial regularity for weak solutions, based on a generalization of the technique of harmonic approximation. And directly establish the optimal Holder exponent for the derivative of a weak solution.

An improved multidisciplinary feasible method using DACE approximation approach

Multidisciplinary feasible method (MDF) is conventional method to multidisciplinary optimization (MDO) and well-understood by users. It reduces the dimensions of the multidisciplinary optimization problem by using the design variables as independent optimization variables. However, at each iteration of the conventional optimization procedure, multidisciplinary analysis (MDA) is numerously performed that results in extreme expense and low optimization efficiency. The intrinsic weakness of MDF is due to the times that it loop fixed-point iterations in MDA, which drive us to improve MDF by building inexpensive approximations as surrogates for expensive MDA. An simple example is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the improved MDF. Results show that a significant reduction in the number of multidisciplinary analysis required for optimization is obtained as compared with original MDF and the efficiency of optimization is increased.

Accuracy analysis of the optimal separable approximation method of one-way wave migration

An approximation for the one-way wave operator takes the form of separated space and wave-number variables and makes it possible to use the FFT, which results in a great improvement in the computational efficiency. From the function approximation perspective, the OSA method shares the same separable approximation format to the one-way wave operator as other separable approximation methods but it is the only global function approximation among these methods. This leads to a difference in the phase error curve, impulse response, and migration result from other separable approximation methods. The difference is that the OSA method has higher accuracy, and the sensitivity to the velocity variation declines with increasing order.

ASYMPTOTIC APPROXIMATION METHOD AND ITS CONVERGENCE ON SEMI-INFINITE PROGRAMMING

The aim of this article is to discuss an asymptotic approximation model and its convergence for the minimax semi-infinite programming problem. An asymptotic surrogate constraints method for the minimax semi-infinite programming problem is presented by making use of two general discrete approximation methods. Simultaneously, the consistence and the epi-convergence of the asymptotic approximation problem are discussed.

PROJECTION METHODS AND APPROXIMATIONS FOR ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

A formulation of a differential equation as projection and fixed point pi-Mem alloivs approximations using general piecnvise functions. We prone existence and uniqueness of the up proximate solution* convergence in the L2 norm and nodal supercnnvergence. These results generalize those obtained earlier by Hulme for continuous piecevjise polynomials and by Delfour-Dubeau for discontinuous pieceuiise polynomials. A duality relationship for the two types of approximations is also given.

Stationary phase approximation in the ambient noise method revisited

The method of extracting Green＇s function between stations from cross correlation has proven to be effective theoretically and experimentally. It has been widely applied to surface wave tomography of the crust and upmost mantle. However, there are still controversies about why this method works. Snieder employed stationary phase approximation in evaluating contribution to cross correlation function from scatterers in the whole space, and concluded that it is the constructive interference of waves emitted by the scatterers near the receiver line that leads to the emergence of Green＇s function. His derivation demonstrates that cross correlation function is just the convolution of noise power spectrum and the Green＇s function. However, his derivation ignores influence from the two stationary points at infinities, therefore it may fail when attenuation is absent. In order to obtain accurate noise-correlation function due to scatters over the whole space, we compute the total contribution with numerical integration in polar coordinates. Our numerical computation of cross correlation function indicates that the incomplete stationary phase approximation introduces remarkable errors to the cross correlation function, in both amplitude and phase, when the frequency is low with reasonable quality factor Q. Our results argue that the dis- tance between stations has to be beyond several wavelengths in order to reduce the influence of this inaccuracy on the applications of ambient noise method, and only the station pairs whose distances are above several （〉5） wavelengths can be used.

LOCAL SALINE APPROXIMATION METHODS FOR SINGULAR PRODUCT INTEGRATION

The purpose of this paper is to propose and study local spline approximation methods for singular product integration,for which;i)the precision degree is the highest possible using splint approximation; ii) the nodes fan be assumed equal to arbitrary points,where the integrand function f is known; iii) the number of the requested evaluations of f at the nodes is low,iv) a satisfactory convergence theory can be proved.

Modeling of bistatic scattering from an underwater non-penetrable target using a Kirchhoff approximation method

A numerical triangulation and transformation into the time domain of a Kirchhoff approximation(KA)method is proposed for the modeling of bistatic scattering from an underwater non-penetrable target.The time domain solution in this approximation can be split up into two parts:the solution of reflected field,contributing around the specular direction,and the solution of shadow radiation,contributing around the forward direction.An average solution in the time domain satisfying the reciprocity principle is presented.The solution is expressed in terms of non-singular functions.The proposed method is validated against a normal mode method for bistatic scattering from a rigid sphere.Moreover,the reflected and shadow highlights on the surface of the sphere are shown to verify the integration surface of the reflected field and shadow radiation.It is also tested against a finite element method and an experiment involving a scaled Benchmark Target Strength Simulation Submarine model.The time-angle bistatic spectra for the model are evaluated by the direct and transformed average solutions of KA,and the former accelerates its speed of calculation.The results are good,and show that this method can be used to predict the bistatic scattered field of a non-penetrable target.

Entropy generation analysis of tangent hyperbolic fluid in quadratic Boussinesq approximation using spectral quasi-linearization method

In many industrial applications,heat transfer and tangent hyperbolic fluid flow processes have been garnering increasing attention,owing to their immense importance in technology,engineering,and science.These processes are relevant for polymer solutions,porous industrial materials,ceramic processing,oil recovery,and fluid beds.The present tangent hyperbolic fluid flow and heat transfer model accurately predicts the shear-thinning phenomenon and describes the blood flow characteristics.Therefore,the entropy production analysis of a non-Newtonian tangent hyperbolic material flow through a vertical microchannel with a quadratic density temperature fluctuation(quadratic/nonlinear Boussinesq approximation)is performed in the present study.The impacts of the hydrodynamic flow and Newton’s thermal conditions on the flow,heat transfer,and entropy generation are analyzed.The governing nonlinear equations are solved with the spectral quasi-linearization method(SQLM).The obtained results are compared with those calculated with a finite element method and the bvp4c routine.In addition,the effects of key parameters on the velocity of the hyperbolic tangent material,the entropy generation,the temperature,and the Nusselt number are discussed.The entropy generation increases with the buoyancy force,the pressure gradient factor,the non-linear convection,and the Eckert number.The non-Newtonian fluid factor improves the magnitude of the velocity field.The power-law index of the hyperbolic fluid and the Weissenberg number are found to be favorable for increasing the temperature field.The buoyancy force caused by the nonlinear change in the fluid density versus temperature improves the thermal energy of the system.

A meshless Galerkin method with moving least square approximations for infinite elastic solids

Combining moving least square approximations and boundary integral equations, a meshless Galerkin method, which is the Galerkin boundary node method （GBNM）, for twoand three-dimensional infinite elastic solid mechanics problems with traction boundary conditions is discussed. In this numerical method, the resulting formulation inherits the symmetry and positive definiteness of variational problems, and boundary conditions can be applied directly and easily. A rigorous error analysis and convergence study for both displacement and stress is presented in Sobolev spaces. The capability of this method is illustrated and assessed by some numerical examples.

On the Method of Multiplier-enlargement and Approximation of Unbounded Continuous Functions

By combining the classical appropriate functions “1, x, x 2” with the method of multiplier enlargement, this paper establishes a theorem to approximate any unbounded continuous functions with modified positive linear operators. As an example, Hermite Fejér interpolation polynomial operators are analysed and studied, and a general conclusion is obtained.

AN APPLICABLE APPROXIMATION METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION

In this work, by choosing an orthonormal basis for the Hilbert space L^2[0, 1], an approximation method for finding approximate solutions of the equation （I ＋ K）x = y is proposed, called Haar wavelet approximation method （HWAM）. To prove the applicabifity of the HWAM, a more general applicability theorem on an approximation method （AM） for an operator equation Ax = y is proved first. As an application, applicability of the HWAM is obtained. Fhrthermore, four steps to use the HWAM are listed and three numerical examples are given in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.