A novel stochastic collocation method for uncertainty propagation in complex mechanical systems

Abstract

This paper presents a novel stochastic collocation method based on the equivalent weak form of multivariate function integral to quantify and manage uncertainties in complex mechanical systems. The proposed method, which combines the advantages of the response surface method and the traditional stochastic collocation method, only sets integral points at the guide lines of the response surface. The statistics, in an engineering problem with many uncertain parameters, are then transformed into a linear combination of simple functions’ statistics. Furthermore, the issue of determining a simple method to solve the weight-factor sets is discussed in detail. The weight-factor sets of two commonly used probabilistic distribution types are given in table form. Studies on the computational accuracy and efforts show that a good balance in computer capacity is achieved at present. It should be noted that it’s a non-gradient and non-intrusive algorithm with strong portability. For the sake of validating the procedure, three numerical examples concerning a mathematical function with analytical expression, structural design of a straight wing, and flutter analysis of a composite wing are used to show the effectiveness of the guided stochastic collocation method.