Time‐variant Reliability of Nonlinear Structures: Application to a Representative Part of a Plate Floor

Abstract

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the feasibility study of time‐variant reliability analysis in the case of nonlinear structure behaviour. It is a very important point for designers in order to take into account the real behaviour of structures, which is often nonlinear, especially for naval structures (corrosion, welded joints, fatigue cracks, etc.). As an application, the time‐variant reliability of a part of a plate floor represented by a perforated plate with a visco‐plastic behaviour under a stochastic load is studied. The second point is to analyse the numerical cost of such a complex computation in order to obtain accurate numerical results. The mechanical model is defined using the finite‐element software CAST3M®. The stochastic load applied to the perforated plate is represented by the so‐called series Expansion Optimal Linear Estimation method developed by Li and Der Kiureghian. The time‐variant reliability analysis is computed by the PHI2 method, presented by Andrieu‐Renaud et al. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.