An efficient response surface method and its application to structural reliability and reliability-basedoptimization

In structural reliability analysis, the response surface method is widely used to reduce the computational efforts of engineering analyses. However, in order to reduce the number of finite element analysis and ensure the accuracy of evaluation, the locations of experimental points used to form a response surface function must be selected in a judicious way. Therefore, in this study, the control point of experimental points is constructed. The new center point of experimental points is chosen by using the control point instead of the design point. The control point can guarantee that the center point of experimental points lies exactly on the failure surface and is close to the actual design point. Two improved methods are proposed based on the control point and the moving technique of experimental points considering the compromise between the accuracy and the efficiency. Five examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed method for both structural reliability and reliability-based structural optimization.

► Two improved RSMs based on a control point of experimental points are proposed.
► The reliability indices obtained by using the proposed RSMs are accurate.
► The failure probability obtained by using the proposed RSM 2is also accurate.
► The method shows high efficiency for the reliability-based structural optimization.
► The proposed RSMs consider the compromise between the accuracy and the efficiency.