Efficient Approach to System-Level Reliability-Based Design Optimization of Large-Scale Uncertain and Dynamic Wind-Excited Systems

Abstract

This paper is focused on the development of an efficient system-level reliability-based design optimization strategy for uncertain wind-excited building systems characterized by high-dimensional design variable vectors (in the order of hundreds). Indeed, although a number of methods have been proposed over the last 15 years for the system-level reliability-based design optimization of building systems subject to stochastic excitation, few have treated problems characterized by more than a handful of design variables. This limits their applicability to practical problems of interest, such as the design optimization of high-rise buildings. To overcome this limitation, a simulation-based method is proposed in this work that is capable of solving reliability-based design optimization problems characterized by high-dimensional design variable vectors while considering system-level performance constraints. The framework is based on approximately decoupling the reliability analysis from the optimization loop through the definition of a system-level subproblem that can be fully defined from the results of a single simulation carried out in the current design point. To demonstrate the efficiency, practicality, and strong convergence properties of the proposed framework, a 4-story uncertain planar frame defined by 2 design variables is optimized under stochastic wind excitation.