Sensitivity-Free Approach for Reliability-Based Robust Design Optimization

This paper attempts to integrate a derivative-free probability analysis method to Reliability-Based Robust Design Optimization (RBRDO). The Eigenvector Dimension Reduction (EDR) method is used for the probability analysis method. It has been demonstrated that the EDR method is more accurate and efficient than the Second-Order Reliability Method (SORM) for reliability and quality assessment. Moreover, it can simultaneously evaluate both reliability and quality without any extra expense. Three practical engineering problems (vehicle side impact, layered bonding plates, and lower control arm) are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the EDR method.Copyright © 2007 by ASME