An improved high-order statistical moment method for structural reliability analysis with insufficient data

Abstract

The fourth-order moment method for reliability analysis of structural systems can be practically applied to effectively address the problem of reliability calculation and analysis with insufficient probability data. For complicated reliability analysis problems, however, this method can lead to inaccurate and unstable reliability calculation results. In this paper, an improved high-order statistical moment method for structural reliability analysis with insufficient data is presented. The presented method is inferred using the properties of statistical moment of standard normal distribution parameter and therefore is possible to obtain more stable and accurate calculation of the reliability indexes of a structural system with insufficient probability data. Two numerical examples are provided to show the performance of the presented method. The example results have shown that the method proposed in this paper not only improves the calculation accuracy and stability, but also brings the calculation results closer to the project conditions. The developed high-moment method for reliability calculation of structural systems provides a practical and effective theoretical base and technical support for the reliability design of structural systems.