Section 1-7

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Reliability and Sensitivity Analysis of Trusses

An approach for integrating the random nature of load with elastic-plastic strains of the structure and calculating the reliabiliv and sensitivitv of trusses is presented. The paper contains some theoretical basis and practical proposition for &ing the problem. Some numerical results are shown.
1. Introduction and assumptions

Let us consider a plane or space truss made of an elastic-plastic material. We assume that the configuration of the truss elements is deterministic, the capacity of a single bar is random but constant along its length. We assume also that the load acts on the structure i n the static manner but changes in time its location and value, the magnitude of the load is described by a random variable of known probability distribution. The damage is caused by incremental growth of plastic strains and takes place in these members for which the extremal axial forces are equal to the cross-section capacities. The limit conditions for the failure and for the safe domain will be formulated with respect to the shakedown theory. From the unshakedown Neals theorem (kinematic formulation [l]) follows that the structure fails if such a failure mechanism exists that following condition i s satisfied:

where N:, N,; are the limit plastic capacities of the i-th bar of the truss, dl+,dl- are the plastic strains of the i-th bar,

max N;, min N; are the maximum and minimum values of the elastic axial force in the i-th bar, respectively. From the shakedown Melans theorem (static formulation [ 11) follows that the structure adopts to the changing loads if, for each bar following conditions are satisfied:

where IT/ is the axial force in the i-th bar caused by thej-th unity hyperstatic force, X; is the j-th residual hyperstatic force, n,, is a degree of the static indeterminacy.
2. Reliability analysis and sensitivity

Let us assume that the random values that describe the types of load (dead load, snow load, wind load, etc.) and the capacities are mutually independent. As the reliability measure we assume the probability p r that the construction does not fail or the reliability index fi correspondingto the probability of failure p = 1- p r , Applying the kinematic shakedown formulation we describe the reliability as follows
pr = l - p f = l - P ( K l > O U

...u K j >OU ...uK,, >0)

(3)

where K, is the left side of the j-th inequality (limit state function) treated as a multi-dimensional random value, K j = ail A, + aj2 A2 + ...+ aj,,* 4 , 4,4,...,4 are the random values which determine the loads and capacities, p , is the probability of failure. Reliability that follows from the shakedown static formulation can be described as
p , =P{S, < O n ...nS, < O n ...nS, <O}
(4)

where S, is the left side of the k-th inequality (limit state function) treated as a multi-dimensional random value,

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ZAMM . Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 80 (2000) S2

S ,= C C ~ . X ; + ~ , , . A ...+ ,b +~~ . 4 ~cu . , are ~ +thecoefficientsequalto

]=I

or

-Ni,

In the kinematic approach, some numerical difficulties occur with a large number of failure mechanisms and with identification of the failure mechanism shapes. In the static approach, the necessity occurs to eliminate the components with residual hyperstatic forces due to the difficulty in determining their probability distribution; it leads to a larger number of inequalities. As the measure of the sensitivity of the reliability we assume the derivative [2] of the reliability with respect to the parameter t for which the sensitivity is calculated.
3. Proposed solution procedure and some results

We propose a mixed static-kinematic procedure for calculating the reliability and sensitivity of trusses. In this approach, after collecting the necessary input data one should solve the construction in elastic range due to unit loads and calculate the extremal axial forces. Next step is determining the dominant failure mechanisms. This can be done by building the limit state functions in a static manner, solving the deterministic problem of mathematical programming for characteristic values of all parameters and iterative finding a few fvst failure mechanisms. Next, one can calculate the reliability and sensitivity of the structure using the fvst failure mechanism (for example with STRUREL system), then the second, third and subsequent values until the reliability for the current step calculation is approximately the same as the previous one. In such a way the reliability and sensitivity of plane truss (Fig.1) have been calculated. The results are shown in the Fig.53 and 4.
4.6 4.4 4.2
9

4
3.8 3.6
V

3,000

I
I

3,000

I
I

3,000

1
I

3,000

I
I

3,000

1
I

3,000

v-1 500 H=Id,OOO

Figure 1. Static scheme of the truss

-0.1 -0.1
0)

Figure 2. The reliability index vs. the coefficients

10
9 8

-0. -0.2 -0.2 -0.2

V

7 6 5 4
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
V

Fig.3. The dimensionless sensitivity of the reliability index vs. the coefficients of variation of dead load and snow
4. Conclusions

Figure 4. The reliability index vs. the coefficients of variation of the snow load

The algorithm presented is a full probabilistic approach, It gives the possibility of taking into account both the randomness of the load and structure and also the plastic reserve. It is more effective than applying the static or the kinematic approach separately and can be useful for estimating the reliability of existing or new designed structures. From the calculations shown follows that the reliabiIity index is very sensitive to the change of load coefficients of variation.
5. Literature

1. KOMG J.A., Shakedown of elastic plastic structures, PWN,Warsaw, 1987. 2. &ADY P., ZUKOWSKI S., The reliability and sensitivity of space truss structures under time-variable loads, Space structures 4, Thomas Telford, London 1993,vol.1, pp. 442-451.

Address: R&A SIENIAWSKA Ph.D., ALINA WYSOCKA M.Sc., STANISLAW ZUKOWSKI Ph.D., Institute of Civil Engineering, Wroclaw University of Technology, WybrzeZe Wyspiafiskiego 27, 50 370 Wroclaw, Poland