As modern structures require more critical and complex designs, the need for accurate ways to assess uncertainties in loads, geometry, material properties, manufacturing processes and operational environments has increased. Reliability assessment techniques help to develop safe designs and identify where contributors of uncertainty occur in structural systems. This book provides readers with an understanding of the fundamentals and applications of structural reliability, stochastic finite element method, reliability analysis via stochastic expansion, and optimization under uncertainty. Probability theory, statistic methods, and reliability analysis methods are discussed. In addition, the use of stochastic expansions for the reliability analysis of practical engineering problems is also examined through the use of examples of practical engineering applications. This book will be of value to graduates and post graduates studying in this field; as well as engineers, researchers, and technical managers. Target Group: Postgraduates studying reliability, engineers working in aerospace, automotive, construction and manufacturing industries.
Dr Seung-Kyum Choi earned his PhD in mechanical and materials engineering at Wright State University, OH, USA. His research interests include structural reliability and probabilistic mechanics, statistical approaches to design of mechanical systems, and multidisciplinary design optimization.
Dr Ramana Grandhi is the distinguished professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Wright State University, OH, USA. His research interests are in multidisciplinary analysis and optimization, probabilistic mechanics, and metal forming. Dr Grandhi has conducted sponsored research for the US Air Force, US Navy, NSF, NASA, DARPA, GE, GM and Caterpillar. He is a fellow of the ASME and an associate fellow of the AIAA.
Dr Robert A. Canfield is an associate professor of aerospace engineering in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), OH. USA. His research interests include structural optimization, multidisciplinary analysis and design methods, uncertainty quantification, structural dynamics and control, and aeroelasticity. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force, where he was the project engineer for the Automated Structural Optimization System (ASTROS), an AFIT instructor, the program manager for basic research in computational mathematics, the chief of plans and budget, and then the director of policy and integration at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, and he chaired the AIAA Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) Technical Committee for two years.
