• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.45-58
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• 2013

In structural reliability analysis, the response surface method is a powerful method to evaluate the probability of failure. However, the location of experimental points used to form a response surface function must be selected in a judicious way. It is necessary for the highly nonlinear limit state functions to consider the design point and the nonlinear trend of the limit state, because both of them influence the probability of failure. In this paper, in order to approximate the actual limit state more accurately, experimental points are selected close to the design point and the actual limit state, and consider the nonlinear trend of the limit state. Linear, quadratic and cubic polynomials without mixed terms are utilized to approximate the actual limit state. The direct Monte Carlo simulation on the approximated limit state is carried out to determine the probability of failure. Four examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method for both numerical and implicit limit states.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.175-189
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• 2012

This paper presents an algorithm for structural reliability with the response surface method. For this aim, an approach with three stages is proposed named as improved response surface method. In the algorithm, firstly, a quadratic approximate function is formed and design point is determined with First Order Reliability Method. Secondly, a point close to the exact limit state function is searched using the design point. Lastly, vector projected method is used to generate the sample points and Second Order Reliability Method is performed to obtain reliability index and probability of failure. Five numerical examples are selected to illustrate the proposed algorithm. The limit state functions of three examples (cantilever beam, highly nonlinear limit state function and dynamic response of an oscillator) are defined explicitly and the others (frame and truss structures) are defined implicitly. ANSYS finite element program is utilized to obtain the response of the structures which are needed in the reliability analysis of implicit limit state functions. The results (reliability index, probability of failure and limit state function evaluations) obtained from the improved response surface are compared with those of Monte Carlo Simulation, First Order Reliability Method, Second Order Reliability Method and Classical Response Surface Method. According to the results, proposed algorithm gives better results for both reliability index and limit state function evaluations.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

The seismic safety of reinforced concrete containment building can be evaluated by probabilistic analysis considering randomness of earthquake, which is more rational than deterministic analysis. In the safety assessment of earthquake-resistant structures by the deterministic theory, it is not easy to consider the effects of random variables but the reliability theory and random vibration theory are useful to assess the seismic safety with considering random effects. The reliability assessment of reinforced concrete containment building subjected to earthquake load includes the structural analysis considering random variables such as load, resistance and analysis method, the definition of limit states and the reliability analysis. The reliability analysis procedure requires much time and labor and also needs to get the high confidence in results. In this study, random vibration analysis of containment building is performed with random variables as earthquake load, concrete compressive strength, modal damping ratio. The seismic responses of critical elements of structure are approximated at the most probable failure point by the response surface method. The response surface method helps to figure out the quantitative characteristics of structural response variability. And the limit state is defined as the failure surface of concrete under multi-axial stress, finally the limit state probability of failure can be obtained simply by first-order second moment method. The reliability analysis for the multiaxial strength limit state and the uniaxial strength limit state is performed and the results are compared with each other. This study concludes that the multiaxial failure criterion is a likely limit state to predict concrete failure strength under combined state of stresses and the reliability analysis results are compatible with the fact that the maximum compressive strength of concrete under biaxial compression state increases.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.116-124
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• 1996

The purpose of The work described in this paper is to clear up the initial moisture content, specific surface, air drying and freezing-thawing process on liquid limit of clayey soils distributed widely at estuary of three main rivers in the west coast. To this end, a series of tests were conducted on clayey soils samples with natural state and treated state. From the test results, the liquid limit was decreased with decrement of initial moisture content, air drying process, and freezing-thawing cycles and increased with increment of specific surface. The specific surface which influenced on the liquid limit is over $25 m^2$m$^2$/g, and their relationships are well formulated. Air drying process is expected to improve the engineering properties of the soils such the pro-water properties were changed to anti-water proper-ties through lowering of water holding as resulted to incline from A-7-5 to A-5 on the soil classificaction plastic chart. The freezing-thawing process decreased 20% of liquid limit, especially under the first cycle of the behavious, as a result of above mentioned reasons, phase change of soil-water system brought the decrement of specific surface and affected to the liquid limit.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.124-133
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• 2017

In-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling under severe accident conditions is a viable approach for retention of radioactive core melt within the reactor vessel. In this study, a new and versatile coating technique known as "cold spray" that can readily be applied to operating and advanced reactors was developed to form a microporous coating on the outer surface of a simulated reactor lower head. Quenching experiments were performed under simulated in-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling conditions using test vessels with and without cold spray coatings. Quantitative measurements show that for all angular locations on the vessel outer surface, the local critical heat flux (CHF) values for the coated vessel were consistently higher than the corresponding CHF values for the bare vessel. However, it was also observed for both coated and uncoated surfaces that the local rate of boiling and local CHF limit vary appreciably along the outer surface of the test vessel. Nonetheless, results of this intriguing study clearly show that the use of cold spray coatings could enhance the local CHF limit for downward-facing boiling by > 88%.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.248-255
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• 1993

Recently, due to the increasing attention to the structural safety under uncertain environments, many researches on the structural reliability analysis have been peformed. Some useful methods are available to evaluate performance reliability of structures with explicit limit states. However, for large structures, in which structural behaviors can be analyzed with finite element models and the limit states are only expressed implicitly, Monte-Carlo simulation method has been mainly used. However, Monte-Carlo simulation method spends too much computational time on repetitive structural analysis. Many alternative methods are suggested to reduce the computational work required in Monte-Carlo simulation. Response surface method is widely used to improve the efficiency of structural reliability analysis. Response surface method is based on the concept of approximating simple polynomial function of basic random variables for the limit state which is not easily expressed in explicit forms of design random variables. The response surface method has simple algorithm. However, the accuracy of results highly depends on how properly the stochastic characteristics of the original limit state has been represented by approximated function, In this study, an improved response surface method is proposed in which the sampling points for creating response surface are modified to represent the failure surface more adequately and the combined use of a linear response surface function and Rackwitz-Fiessler method has been employed. The method is found to be more effective and efficient than previous response surface methods. In addition more consistent convergence is achieved, Accuracy of the proposed method has been investigated through example.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2010

A major consideration in the design of tunnels in urban areas is the prediction of the ground movements and surface settlements associated with the tunneling operations. Excessive ground movements can damage adjacent building and utilities. In this paper, a neural network model is used to predict the maximum surface settlement, based on instrumented results from three separate EPB tunneling projects in Singapore. This paper demonstrates that by coupling the trained neural network model to a spreadsheet optimization technique, the reliability assessment of the settlement serviceability limit state can be carried out using the first-order reliability method. With this method, it is possible to carry out sensitivity studies to examine the effect of the level of uncertainty of each parameter uncertainty on the probability that the serviceability limit state has been exceeded.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.672-676
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• 2002

In this paper, a reliability-based design optimization method, which enables the determination of optimum design that incorporate confidence range for structures, is studied. Response surface method and Monte Carlo simulation are utilized to determine limit state function. The proposed method is applied to the I-type steel structure for reliability based optimal design.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.587-602
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• 2016

In structural reliability analysis, the response surface method is widely adopted because of its numerical efficiency. It should be understood that the response function must approximate the actual limit state function accurately in the main region influencing failure probability where it is evaluated. However, the size of main region influencing failure probability was not defined clearly in current response surface methods. In this study, the concept of sub-region of interest is constructed, and an improved response surface method is proposed based on the sub-region of interest. The sub-region of interest can clearly define the size of main region influencing failure probability, so that the accuracy of the evaluation of failure probability is increased. Some examples are introduced to demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method for both numerical and implicit limit state functions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.779-799
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• 2010

In order to consider high-order effects on the actual limit state function, a new response surface method is proposed for structural reliability analysis by the use of high-order approximation concept in this study. Hermite polynomials are used to determine the highest orders of input random variables, and the sampling points for the determination of highest orders are located on Gaussian points of Gauss-Hermite integration. The cross terms between two random variables, only in case that their corresponding percent contributions to the total variation of limit state function are significant, will be added to the response surface function to improve the approximation accuracy. As a result, significant reduction in computational cost is achieved with this strategy. Due to the addition of cross terms, the additional sampling points, laid on two-dimensional Gaussian points off axis on the plane of two significant variables, are required to determine the coefficients of the approximated limit state function. All available sampling points are employed to construct the final response surface function. Then, Monte Carlo Simulation is carried out on the final approximation response surface function to estimate the failure probability. Due to the use of high order polynomial, the proposed method is more accurate than the traditional second-order or linear response surface method. It also provides much more efficient solutions than the available high-order response surface method with less loss in accuracy. The efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method compared with those of various response surface methods available are illustrated by five numerical examples.