Reliable Space Pursuing for Reliability-based Design Optimization with Black-box Performance Functions

Reliability-based design optimization （RBDO） is intrinsically a double-loop procedure since it involves an overall optimization and an iterative reliability assessment at each search point. Due to the double-loop procedure, the computational expense of RBDO is normally very high. Current RBDO research focuses on problems with explicitly expressed performance functions and readily available gradients. This paper addresses a more challenging type of RBDO problem in which the performance functions are computation intensive. These computation intensive functions are often considered as a ＂black-box＂ and their gradients are not available or not reliable. On the basis of the reliable design space （RDS） concept proposed earlier by the authors, this paper proposes a Reliable Space Pursuing （RSP） approach, in which RDS is first identified and then gradually refined while optimization is performed. It fundamentally avoids the nested optimization and probabilistic assessment loop. Three well known RBDO problems from the literature are used for testing and demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed RSP method.

Reliability Based Design Optimization of Aero-Engine Spindle Ball Bearings

Aero-engine spindle ball bearings work in harsh conditions which are affected by relatively complex stresses. One of the key factors which affects bearing performance is its structure. In this paper,we used reliability based design optimization method to solve the structure design problem of aero-engine spindle ball bearings.Compared with the optimization design method, the value of equivalent dynamic load using reliability optimization design method was the least by MATLAB simulation. Also the design solutions show that the optimized structure possesses higher reliability than the original solution.

RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN OF COMPOSITES UNDER THE MIXED UNCERTAINTIES AND THE OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

This paper proposed a reliability design model for composite materials under the mixture of random and interval variables. Together with the inverse reliability analysis technique, the sequential single-loop optimization method is applied to the reliability-based design of composites. In the sequential single-loop optimization, the optimization and the reliability analysis are decoupled to improve the computational efficiency. As shown in examples, the minimum weight problems under the constraint of structural reliability are solved for laminated composites. The Particle Swarm Optimization （PSO） algorithm is utilized to search for the optimal solutions. The design results indicate that, under the mixture of random and interval variables, the method that combines the sequential single-loop optimization and the PSO algorithm can deal effectively with the reliability-based design of composites.

Reliability-based multidisciplinary design optimization using incremental shifting vector strategy and its application in electronic product design

Use of multidisciplinary analysis in reliabilitybased design optimization(RBDO) results in the emergence of the important method of reliability-based multidisciplinary design optimization(RBMDO). To enhance the efficiency and convergence of the overall solution process,a decoupling algorithm for RBMDO is proposed herein.Firstly, to decouple the multidisciplinary analysis using the individual disciplinary feasible(IDF) approach, the RBMDO is converted into a conventional form of RBDO. Secondly,the incremental shifting vector(ISV) strategy is adopted to decouple the nested optimization of RBDO into a sequential iteration process composed of design optimization and reliability analysis, thereby improving the efficiency significantly. Finally, the proposed RBMDO method is applied to the design of two actual electronic products: an aerial camera and a car pad. For these two applications, two RBMDO models are created, each containing several finite element models(FEMs) and relatively strong coupling between the involved disciplines. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

NEW APPROACH FOR RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION:MINIMUM ERROR POINT

Conventional reliability-based design optimization （RBDO） requires to use the most probable point （MPP） method for a probabilistic analysis of the reliability constraints. A new approach is presented, called as the minimum error point （MEP） method or the MEP based method, for reliability-based design optimization, whose idea is to minimize the error produced by approximating performance functions. The MEP based method uses the first order Taylor＇s expansion at MEP instead of MPP. Examples demonstrate that the MEP based design optimization can ensure product reliability at the required level, which is very imperative for many important engineering systems. The MEP based reliability design optimization method is feasible and is considered as an alternative for solving reliability design optimization problems. The MEP based method is more robust than the commonly used MPP based method for some irregular performance functions.

Reliability-based design optimization for flexible mechanism with particle swarm optimization and advanced extremum response surface method

To improve the computational efficiency of the reliability-based design optimization(RBDO) of flexible mechanism, particle swarm optimization-advanced extremum response surface method(PSO-AERSM) was proposed by integrating particle swarm optimization(PSO) algorithm and advanced extremum response surface method(AERSM). Firstly, the AERSM was developed and its mathematical model was established based on artificial neural network, and the PSO algorithm was investigated. And then the RBDO model of flexible mechanism was presented based on AERSM and PSO. Finally, regarding cross-sectional area as design variable, the reliability optimization of flexible mechanism was implemented subject to reliability degree and uncertainties based on the proposed approach. The optimization results show that the cross-section sizes obviously reduce by 22.96 mm^2 while keeping reliability degree. Through the comparison of methods, it is demonstrated that the AERSM holds high computational efficiency while keeping computational precision for the RBDO of flexible mechanism, and PSO algorithm minimizes the response of the objective function. The efforts of this work provide a useful sight for the reliability optimization of flexible mechanism, and enrich and develop the reliability theory as well.

An Overview of Recently Developed Coupled Simulation Optimization Approaches for Reliability Based Minimum Cost Design of Water Retaining Structures

This paper reviews several recently-developed techniques for the minimum-cost optimal design of water-retaining structures (WRSs), which integrate the effects of seepage. These include the incorporation of uncertainty in heterogeneous soil parameter estimates and quantification of reliability. This review is limited to methods based on coupled simulation-optimization (S-O) models. In this context, the design of WRSs is mainly affected by hydraulic design variables such as seepage quantities, which are difficult to determine from closed-form solutions or approximation theories. An S-O model is built by integrating numerical seepage modeling responses to an optimization algorithm based on efficient surrogate models. The surrogate models (meta-models) are trained on simulated data obtained from finite element numerical code solutions. The proposed methodology is applied using several machine learning techniques and optimization solvers to optimize the design of WRS by incorporating different design variables and boundary conditions. Additionally, the effects of several scenarios of flow domain hydraulic conductivity are integrated into the S-O model. Also, reliability based optimum design concepts are incorporated in the S-O model to quantify uncertainty in seepage quantities due to uncertainty in hydraulic conductivity estimates. We can conclude that the S-O model can efficiently optimize WRS designs. The ANN, SVM, and GPR machine learning technique-based surrogate models are efficiently and expeditiously incorporated into the S-O models to imitate the numerical responses of simulations of various problems.

Optimization design of piles subjected to horizontal loads based on reliability theory

Based on reliability theory,a general method for the optimization design of piles subjected to horizontal loads is presented.This method takes into consideration various uncertainties caused by pile installation,variability of geotechnical materials from one location to another,and so on.It also deals with behavior and side constraints specified by standard specifications for piles.To more accurately solve the optimization design model,the first order reliability method is employed.The results from the numerical example indicate that the target reliability index has significant influence on design parameters.In addition,the optimization weight increases with the target reliability index.Especially when the target reliability index is relatively large,the target reliability index has significant influence on design weight of piles.

Efficient Reliability-Based Optimization Scheme for Piezoelectric Composite Beams with Delamination under Axial Compression

An efficient computational framework for reliability analysis and reliability-based design optimization of piezoelectric composite beam with delamination is presented.In the proposed approach,the transverse shear deformation,delamination and piezoelectricity of the beam are taken into account.By introducing the Heaviside step function into the displacement components and using the Rayleigh-Ritz method,and the buckling governing equations for the piezoelectric composite beams is obtained.The reliability of the beams is obtained by integrating the support vector machine method and first order reliability method,further the reliability-based optimization is executed through employing genetic algorithm.The effects of ply style,delamination length and voltage are discussed in details.Numerical results indicate that the comprehensive computational scheme provides a unified numerical framework to analysis the nondeterministic buckling and reliability efficiently.

Reliability Evaluation Optimal Selection Model of Component-Based System

If the components in a component-based software system come from different sources, the characteristics of the components may be different. Therefore, evaluating the reliability of a component-based system with a fixed model for all components will not be reasonable. To solve this problem, this paper combines a single reliability growth model with an architecture-based reliability model, and proposes an optimal selecting approach. First, the most appropriate model of each component is selected according to the historical reliability data of the component, so that the evaluation deviation is the smallest. Then, system reliability is evaluated according to both the relationships among components and the using frequency of each component. As the approach takes into account the historical data and the using frequency of each component, the evaluation and prediction results are more accurate than those of using a single model.

Transient reliability optimization for turbine disk radial deformation

The radial deformation design of turbine disk seriously influences the control of gas turbine high pressure turbine(HPT) blade-tip radial running clearance(BTRRC). To improve the design of BTRRC under continuous operation, the nonlinear dynamic reliability optimization of disk radial deformation was implemented based on extremum response surface method(ERSM), including ERSM-based quadratic function(QF-ERSM) and ERSM-based support vector machine of regression(SR-ERSM). The mathematical models of the two methods were established and the framework of reliability-based dynamic design optimization was developed. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed optimization methods have the promising potential in reducing additional design samples and improving computational efficiency with acceptable precision, in which the SR-ERSM emerges more obviously. Through the case study, we find that disk radial deformation is reduced by about 6.5×10–5 m; δ=1.31×10–3 m is optimal for turbine disk radial deformation design and the proposed methods are verified again. The presented efforts provide an effective optimization method for the nonlinear transient design of motion structures for further research, and enrich mechanical reliability design theory.

基于Kriging模型与FORM的钢板组合梁桥结构优化设计

考虑材料参数的不确定性以及设计变量多重约束条件的影响,提出了基于可靠性分析的钢板组合梁桥结构优化设计方法。首先,利用拉丁超立方试验设计(Latin hypercube design,LHD)构建试验组合方案,并通过有限元分析获取试验设计组合下的最大挠度响应值。基于获取的训练样本,构建能够表征结构最大挠度值与随机输入之间映射关系的Kriging代理模型。基于建立的代理模型,以钢结构截面积最小化为目标函数,建立符合规范要求与可靠度约束的优化数学模型,并采用一阶可靠性方法(first order reliability method,FORM),实现设计变量优化。通过比较具有相同设计变量上限,但下限分别为初始值的80%和70%两种优化设计方案,评估了两者在相同阈值以及不同阈值下设计变量的优化结果。最后对方案二在阈值为17 mm下的优化结果进行极限状态验算。结果表明:两个优化设计方案在阈值为17 mm下的优化结果更具合理性,并且方案二在同一阈值下具有更高的优化程度。随着阈值增加,优化程度增加,且腹板高度在较大阈值下对结果影响更大,而翼缘宽度在较小阈值下影响更大。

APPLICATION OF SURROGATE BASED PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION TO THE RELIABILITY-BASED ROBUST DESIGN OF COMPOSITE PRESSURE VESSELS

A surrogate based particle swarm optimization （SBPSO） algorithm which combines the surrogate modeling technique and particle swarm optimization is applied to the reliability- based robust design （RBRD） of composite pressure vessels. The algorithm and efficiency of SBPSO are displayed through numerical examples. A model for filament-wound composite pressure vessels with metallic liner is then studied by netting analysis and its responses are analyzed by using Finite element method （performed by software ANSYS）. An optimization problem for maximizing the performance factor is formulated by choosing the winding orientation of the helical plies in the cylindrical portion, the thickness of metal liner and the drop off region size as the design variables. Strength constraints for composite layers and the metal liner are constructed by using Tsai-Wu failure criterion and Mises failure criterion respectively. Numerical examples show that the method proposed can effectively solve the RBRD problem, and the optimal results of the proposed model can satisfy certain reliability requirement and have the robustness to the fluctuation of design variables.

Structural reliability analysis and reliability-based design optimization: Recent advances

We review recent research activities on structural reliability analysis,reliability-based design optimization(RBDO) and applications in complex engineering structural design.Several novel uncertainty propagation methods and reliability models,which are the basis of the reliability assessment,are given.In addition,recent developments on reliability evaluation and sensitivity analysis are highlighted as well as implementation strategies for RBDO.

Reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components, Part Ⅱ： Case studies

The reliability-based optimization, the relia- bility-based sensitivity analysis and robust design method are employed to propose an effective approach for reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components in Part I. Applications of the method are further discussed for reliability-based robust optimization of vehicle components in this paper. Examples of axles, torsion bar, coil and composite springs are illustrated for numerical investigations. Results have shown the proposed method is an efficient method for reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components.

A Comparison of Deterministic, Reliability-Based Topology Optimization under Uncertainties

Reliability and optimization are two key elements for structural design. The reliability~ based topology optimization （RBTO） is a powerful and promising methodology for finding the optimum topologies with the uncertainties being explicitly considered, typically manifested by the use of reliability constraints. Generally, a direct integration of reliability concept and topol- ogy optimization may lead to computational difficulties. In view of this fact, three methodologies have been presented in this study, including the double-loop approach （the performance measure approach, PMA） and the decoupled approaches （the so-called Hybrid method and the sequential optimization and reliability assessment, SORA）. For reliability analysis, the stochastic response surface method （SRSM） was applied, combining with the design of experiments generated by the sparse grid method, which has been proven as an effective and special discretization technique. The methodologies were investigated with three numerical examples considering the uncertainties including material properties and external loads. The optimal topologies obtained using the de- terministic, RBTOs were compared with one another; and useful conclusions regarding validity, accuracy and efficiency were drawn.

高置信水平结构逆可靠度分析与优化方法研究进展

不确定性客观存在于工程结构生产制造以及服役等各环节之中并对结构的承载性能影响显著.特别是对于服役条件苛刻的航空航天承载装备,在设计阶段考虑多源不确定性的影响对于结构安全至关重要.在众多不确定性分析方法中,逆可靠度分析方法在效率和稳健性方面具有一定优势.为此,国内外学者在高置信水平结构逆可靠度分析与优化方法方面开展了大量研究并取得了长足进步,包括自适应迭代控制算法、先进可靠度优化策略与非充分样本下的高置信水平设计方法等.本文首先对国内外逆可靠度分析与优化方法取得的进展进行了系统梳理与总结,特别是逆可靠度分析方法的发展历程以及面临的挑战问题,主要包括强非线性功能函数、多设计点以及低失效概率问题.进一步,针对长期困扰可靠度方法实际应用的小样本问题,重点从结构高置信水平可靠度分析与优化理论角度开展系统介绍,详细论述了小样本诱发的认知不确定性到可靠度置信水平的传播链条.最后,基于现有成果和国家重大前沿需求,重点围绕航天装备可重复使用需求对结构可靠度未来研究方向进行了思考与展望,期望相关研究成果能够进一步助力我国航空航天结构实现高可靠性与极致轻量化设计.

大口径火炮弹协调器机构可靠性优化设计研究

为提高弹协调器的交弹效率,同时保障协调交弹动作具有高可靠度,开展某弹协调器机构的可靠性优化设计。考虑主要几何尺寸、制造误差、重要构件弹性变形等影响因素,建立某弹协调器的参数化刚柔耦合动力学模型,通过参数化动力学分析,复现协调器的协调交弹动作失效,并建立相对应的功能函数及协调器可靠性优化设计模型。针对协调器可靠性优化模型,为提高优化设计的效率和精度,构建新的Kriging模型自适应更新策略,并与序列二次规划(SQP)方法、功能函数度量法(PMA)/可靠度指标法(RIA)结合,提出协调器机构可靠性优化设计方法。研究结果表明,在协调交弹可靠度满足要求的情况下大幅提高了某协调器的协调效率,也验证了所提方法的有效性和工程价值。

Reliability-based components, Part robust design optimization of vehicle I： Theory

The reliability-based design optimization, the reliability sensitivity analysis and robust design method are employed to present a practical and effective approach for reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components. A procedure for reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components is proposed. Application of the method is illustrated by reliability-based robust design optimization of axle and spring. Numerical results have shown that the proposed method can be trusted to perform reliability-based robust design optimization of vehicle components.