Practical reliability analysis using a general purpose finite element program

Abstract

This paper presents a method for evaluating the structural reliability of a component when a general purpose finite element program is used for the analysis. The advanced First Order Second Moment (AFOSM) method is used to estimate the probability of failure. The finite element code ansys is used for the analysis. The design optimization routine of the code is adopted for solving the minimization problem of the AFOSM method. Since the optimization procedure is based on the response surface technique practically any structural parameters can handled as design variables in any type of analysis. This type of flexibility in the optimization technique is required to solve practical reliability problems. Several examples are presented in which material, shape, and loading are considered as random variables.