Reliability Assessment of Steel-Aluminium Lattice Tower

Abstract

In the subject of the present study a probabilistic approach to the analysis of steelaluminium lattice tower was used. Structural design parameters are defined as the deterministic values and random variables. Random variables are not correlated. The criterion for structural failure is expressed the limits of functions referring to the serviceability limit state. The description of the limit state of structure implicit forms of the random variables function was used. The study presents a combination of the reliability analysis program with the MES3D external FEM program. The NUMPRESS software, created at the IFTR PAS, was used in the reliability analysis. The Hasofer-Lind reliability index, determined using an iterative procedure of Rackwitz-Fiessler, was used as a reliability measure. The values of reliability index for different cases of the vector of random variables, that is, different descriptions of mathematical model of the structure, were determined. The effect of assumed probability distribution of individual random variables on the value of the reliability index was determined. In the description of random variables, the different types of probability distribution were used and the values of the reliability index for the normal distribution and the distribution chosen according to the kind of a variable were compared. The primary research method is the FORM method. In order to verify the correctness of the calculation Monte Carlo and Importance Sampling methods are used. The relative error of the reliability index was calculated taking the simulation Monte Carlo method as a reference. The effectiveness of the primary research method was performed by comparing the number of calls of the limit state, which is connected with the calculation time. The sensitivity of reliability index to the random variables was defined.