Interval Limit Analysis Within a Scaled Boundary Element Framework

The paper proposes a novel approach for the interval limit analysis of rigid-perfectly plastic structures with (nonprobabilistic) uncertain but bounded forces and yield capacities that vary within given continuous ranges. The discrete model is constructed within a polygon-scaled boundary finite element framework, which advantageously provides coarse mesh accuracy even in the presence of stress singularities and complex geometry. The interval analysis proposed is based on a so-called convex model for the direct determination of both maximum and minimum collapse load limits of the structures involved. The formulation for this interval limit analysis takes the form of a pair of optimization problems, known as linear programs with interval coefficients (LPICs). This paper proposes a robust and efficient reformulation of the original LPICs into standard nonlinear programming (NLP) problems with bounded constraints that can be solved using any NLP code. The proposed NLP approach can capture, within a single step, the maximum collapse load limit in one case and the minimum collapse load limit in the other, and thus eliminates the need for any combinatorial search schemes.