Finite element and reliability: a method for compound variables - application on a cracked heating system

Nuclear engineering systems are designed to ensure safety criteria. To pred ict the behavior of mechanical systems, the finite element analysis (FEA) i s actually the main tool for numerical analysis of mechanical problems. In order to design a system under data variability considerations, performance functions have to be defined by the relationship between the action effect s and the material strengths. Then a certain level of safety should be sati sfied with sufficiently high probability. This is the subject of the reliab ility theory. Controlling a FEA software in order to carry out the reliabil ity analysis, it is to define a 'combination method'. This paper proposes a general method for the reliability analysis combined with FEA codes. The m ethod is efficient for independent, correlated and compound random variable s. The proposed method is illustrated by numerical example of a cracked mem brane exposed to thermal shortening. The risk to evaluate is represented by the crack propagation in the material. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. FLU rights reserved.