• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1A
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• pp.45-52
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• 2009

In conventional structural design, deterministic optimization which satisfies codified constraints is performed to ensure safety and maximize economical efficiency. However, uncertainties are inevitable due to the stochastic nature of structural materials and applied loads. Thus, deterministic optimization without considering these uncertainties could lead to unreliable design. Recently, there has been much research in reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) taking into consideration both the reliability and optimization. RBDO involves the evaluation of probabilistic constraint that can be estimated using the RIA (Reliability Index Approach) and the PMA(Performance Measure Approach). It is generally known that PMA is more stable and efficient than RIA. Despite the significant advancement in PMA, RBDO still requires large computation time for large-scale applications. In this paper, A new reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) method is presented to achieve the more stable and efficient algorithm. The idea of the new method is to integrate a response surface method (RSM) with PMA. For the approximation of a limit state equation, the moving least squares (MLS) method is used. Through a mathematical example and ten-bar truss problem, the proposed method shows better convergence and efficiency than other approaches.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3A
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• pp.193-200
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• 2010

Structural design requires simultaneously to ensure safety by considering quantitatively uncertainties in the applied loadings, material properties and fabrication error and to maximize economical efficiency. As a solution, system reliability-based design optimization (SRBDO), which takes into consideration both uncertainties and economical efficiency, has been extensively researched and numerous attempts have been done to apply it to structural design. Contrary to conventional deterministic optimization, SRBDO involves the evaluation of component and system probabilistic constraints. However, because of the complicated algorithm for calculating component reliability indices and system reliability, excessive computational time is required when the large-scale finite element analysis is involved in evaluating the probabilistic constraints. Accordingly, an algorithm for SRBDO exhibiting improved stability and efficiency needs to be developed for the large-scale problems. In this study, a more stable and efficient SRBDO based on the performance measure approach (PMA) is developed. PMA shows good performance when it is applied to reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) which has only component probabilistic constraints. However, PMA could not be applied to SRBDO because PMA only calculates the probabilistic performance measure for limit state functions and does not evaluate the reliability indices. In order to overcome these difficulties, the decoupled algorithm is proposed where RBDO based on PMA is sequentially performed with updated target component reliability indices until the calculated system reliability index approaches the target system reliability index. Through a mathematical problem and ten-bar truss problem, the proposed method shows better convergence and efficiency than other approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.637-644
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• 2010

This paper presents a reliability-based shape optimization (RBSO) using the growth-strain method. An actual design involves uncertain conditions such as material property, operational load, Poisson's ratio and dimensional variation. The purpose of the RBSO is to consider the variations of probabilistic constraint and performances caused by uncertainties. In this study, the growth-strain method was applied to shape optimization of reliability analysis. Even though many papers for reliability-based shape optimization in mathematical programming method and ESO (Evolutionary Structural Optimization) were published, the paper for the reliability-based shape optimization using the growth-strain method has not been applied yet. Growth-strain method is applied to performance measure approach (PMA), which has probabilistic constraints that are formulated in terms of the reliability index, is adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraints in the change of average mises stress. Numerical examples are presented to compare the DO with the RBSO. The results of design example show that the RBSO model is more reliable than deterministic optimization. It was verified that the reliability-based shape optimization using growth-strain method are very effective for general structure. The purpose of this study is to improve structure's safety considering probabilistic variable.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2010

In this paper, a reliability-based design optimization is developed for the topology design of linear structures using a performance measure approach. Spatial domain is discretized using three dimensional Reissner-Mindlin plate elements and design variable is taken as the material property of each element. A continuum based adjoint variable method is employed for the efficient computation of sensitivity with respect to the design and random variables. The performance measure approach of RBDO is employed to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. The topology optimizationproblem is formulated to have probabilistic displacement constraints. The uncertainties such as material property and external loads are considered. Numerical examples show that the developed topology optimization method could effectively yield a reliable design, comparing with the other methods such as deterministic, safety factor, and worst case approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.826-833
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• 2010

Electric-thermal-structural actuated compliant mechanisms are mechanisms onto which electric voltage drop is applied as input instead of force. This mechanism is based on thermal expansion of material while being heated. Compliant mechanisms are designed subjected to electric charge input using BESO(bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization) method. Reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) is applied to the topology design of actuators. performance measure approach (PMA), which has probabilistic constraints that are formulated in terms of the reliability index, is adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. In this study, BESO method is used to obtain optimal topology of compliant mechanisms from initial design domain. PMA approach is used to evaluate reliability index. The procedure has been tested in numerical applications and compared with the results obtained by other methods to validate these approaches.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.691-697
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• 2010

Reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) is to get an optimal topology satisfying uncertainties of design variables. In this study, reliability-based topology optimization method is applied to the inner reinforcement of vehicle's hood based on BESO. A multi-objective topology optimization technique was implemented to obtain optimal topology of the inner reinforcement of the hood. considering the static stiffness of bending and torsion as well as natural frequency. Performance measure approach (PMA), which has probabilistic constraints that are formulated in terms of the reliability index, is adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. To evaluate the obtained optimal topology by RBTO, it is compared with that of DTO of the inner reinforcement of the hood. It is found that the more suitable topology is obtained through RBTO than DTO even though the final volume of RBTO is a little bit larger than that of DTO. From the result, multiobjective optimization technique based on the BESO can be applied very effectively in topology optimization for vehicle's hood reinforcement considering the static stiffness of bending and torsion as well as natural frequency.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.589-595
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• 2010

This paper presents a reliability-based shape optimization (RBSO) using the evolutionary structural optimization (ESO). An actual design involves uncertain conditions such as material property, operational load, poisson's ratio and dimensional variation. The deterministic optimization (DO) is obtained without considering of uncertainties related to the uncertainty parameters. However, the RBSO can consider the uncertainty variables because it has the probabilistic constraints. In order to determine whether the probabilistic constraint is satisfied or not, simulation techniques and approximation methods are developed. In this paper, the reliability-based shape design optimization method is proposed by utilization the reliability index approach (RIA), performance measure approach (PMA), single-loop single-vector (SLSV), adaptive-loop (ADL) are adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraint. In order to apply the ESO method to the RBSO, a sensitivity number is defined as the change of strain energy in the displacement constraint. Numerical examples are presented to compare the DO with the RBSO. The results of design example show that the RBSO model is more reliable than deterministic optimization.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.469-475
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• 2010

The objective of this study is to integrate reliability analysis into shape optimization problem using the evolutionary structural optimization (ESO) in the application example. Reliability-based shape optimization is formulated as volume minimization problem with probabilistic stress constraint under minimization max. von Mises stress and allow stress. Young's modulus, external load and thickness are considered as uncertain variables. In order to compute reliability index, four methods, i.e., reliability index approach (RIA), performance measure approach (PMA), single-loop singlevector (SLSV) and adaptive-loop (ADL), are used. Reliability-based shape optimization design process is conducted to obtain optimal shape satisfying max. von Mises stress and reliability index constraints with the above four methods, and then each result is compared with respect to numerical stability and computing time.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.529-538
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• 2010

This paper presents a reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) based on bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO). In design of a structure, uncertain conditions such as material property, operational load and dimensional variation should be considered. Deterministic topology optimization (DTO) is performed without considering the uncertainties related to the design variables. However, the RBTO can consider the uncertainty variables because it can deal with the probabilistic constraints. The reliability index approach (RIA) and the performance measure approach (PMA) are adopted to evaluate the probabilistic constraints in this study. In order to apply the BESO to the RBTO, sensitivity number for each element is defined as the change in the reliability index of the structure due to removal of each element. Smoothing scheme is also used to eliminate checkerboard patterns in topology optimization. The limit state indicates the margin of safety between the resistance (constraints) and the load of structures. The limit State function expresses to evaluate reliability index from finite element analysis. Numerical examples are presented to compare each optimal topology obtained from RBTO and DTO each other. It is verified that the RBTO based on BESO can be effectively performed from the results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.412-418
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• 2011

Reliability-based Topology optimization(RBTO) is to get an optimal design satisfying uncertainties of design variables. Although RBTO based on homogenization and density distribution method has been done, RBTO based on BESO has not been reported yet. This study presents a reliability-based topology optimization(RBTO) using bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization(BESO). Topology optimization is formulated as volume minimization problem with probabilistic displacement constraint. Young's modulus, external load and thickness are considered as uncertain variables. In order to compute reliability index, four methods, i.e., RIA, PMA, SLSV and ADL(adaptive-loop), are used. Reliability-based topology optimization design process is conducted to obtain optimal topology satisfying allowable displacement and target reliability index with the above four methods, and then each result is compared with respect to numerical stability and computing time. The results of this study show that the RBTO based on BESO using the four methods can effectively be applied for topology optimization. And it was confirmed that DLSV and ADL had better numerical efficiency than SLSV. ADL and SLSV had better time cost than DLSV. Consequently, ADL method showed the best time efficiency and good numerical stability.