Time-Dependent Structural Reliability Assessment for Nonstationary Non-Gaussian Performance Functions
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
In this paper, a new analytical formula is proposed to determine the mean outcrossing rate of nonstationary non-Gaussian performance functions. The performance function is firstly transformed into a standard Gaussian process using its first four moments and autocorrelation coefficient function, and the mean outcrossing rate of the time-variant performance function is then derived from the transformed standard Gaussian process and the cumulative distribution function of the correlated bivariate standard normal random variable. Based on the proposed mean outcrossing rate, an efficient methodology is then developed to evaluate the time-dependent structural failure probability of nonstationary non-Gaussian performance functions under the assumption that the outcrossing event (i.e., structural failure) is modeled as a Poisson process. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. It can be concluded that the proposed method provides an efficient and useful tool for time-dependent structural reliability assessment in engineering applications.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, including computer codes of all the numerical examples.
Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51820105014, 51738001, and U1934217) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (Grant No. 2019zzts879). The support is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147 • Issue 2 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 10, 2020
Accepted: Sep 11, 2020
Published online: Nov 20, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 20, 2021
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