OPTIMAL RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN OF LARGE FRAMED STRUCTURES

Abstract

This paper presents an iterative approach for the optimal reliability-based design of large framed structures. Reliability analysis by the PNET method is initially presented to find the collapse probability of the representative mode classified by the extent of correlation. The optimal reliability-based design is then developed by applying the iterative optimal plastic design technique. Essentially, the design procedure entails the sequential performance of a series of optimal designs, where. at any one stage, a constraint upon the sum of the collapse probabilities of representative modes found by reliability analysis, is added to the constraint sets for the next design. Upon succeeding iterations the final design is achieved when a subsequent reliability analysis finds the collapse probability for the design to be less than or equal to the specified allowable collapse probability. Two large framed structures are designed to illustrate the features and scope of the approach.