INCORPORATING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD AND FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD TO DETERMINE THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENT RELIABILITY

Abstract

The paper proposed the algorithm of using Stochastic Finite Element Method (SFEM) incorporating Finite Difference Method to obtain the specific derivative of state function in determining the structure reliability with FORM-2. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a program truss structure reliability assessment is provided with the discussion on a critical example. The results show the simplification of the proposed method compared to the randomized FEM, the high reliability of the method and the method is especially suitable to incorporate with available Finite Element Analysis program.