HYPERSPACE DIVISION METHOD FOR STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY

A method for computing probabilities of failure of structural componen ts and systems is proposed. The approach is based on a radial-space di vision technique in conjunction with automatic generation of unit cent erline vectors. Based on this technique, the standard normal space is divided into active and passive subdomains. The probability contributi on of each active subdomain to the total probability of failure is est imated by approximating the actual limit-state hypersurface with a hyp ersphere segment centered on the actual hypersurface. The proposed met hod can solve with relatively high accuracy both component and system reliability problems involving nonlinearities and multiple extremum po ints of the probability density on the limit-state hypersurface. A num ber of numerical examples involving linear and nonlinear performance f unctions of components and systems are presented. The results are in g ood agreement with exact solutions, probability bounds, multinormal ap proximations, and/or Monte Carlo simulations.