An efficient 3D stochastic finite element method for failure probability analysis of high temperature components

The loadings on high temperature components are generally complex and the discreteness of the material strength is usually great. Therefore, the two-dimensional (2D) failure probability analysis model and the deterministic finite element method (DFEM) cannot be applied to evaluate the failure probability of asymmetrical three-dimensional (3D) components. To overcome the drawbacks of the 2D model and the DFEM, an efficient 3D stochastic finite element method (SFEM) is proposed in this paper. With this method, the failure probability of components subjected to complex loadings can be estimated by using the statistical analysis of the Von Mises stresses of element nodes. Meanwhile, ANSYS and MATLAB were employed to carry out 3D parametric modeling, solving and statistical analysis. The proposed method is efficient, as is verified for two cases, and it can also be easily applied in practical engineering.