A novel dynamic reliability-based topology optimization (DRBTO) framework for continuum structures via interval-process collocation and the first-passage theories

Abstract

In view of the general inertia and damping features as well as the inevitable uncertainty factors in engineering structures, a novel dynamic reliability-based topology optimization (DRBTO) strategy is investigated for time-variant mechanical systems with overall consideration of material dispersion and loading deviation effects. The static interval-set model is first utilized to quantify multi-source uncertainty inputs and the transient interval-process model is then established to characterize unknown-but-bounded response results, which can be readily solved through the proposed interval-process collocation approach combined with a classical Newmark difference scheme. Different from the traditional deterministic design framework, the present DRBTO scheme will directly consider new reliability constraints, for which the non-probabilistic time-variant reliability (NTR) index is mathematically deduced using the first-passage principle. In addition, the issues related to uncertainty-oriented design sensitivity and filtering method are discussed. The usage and effectiveness of DRBTO are demonstrated with three numerical examples.