An active learning Kriging model with approximating parallel strategy for structural reliability analysis

With the ever-increasing complexity of engineering problems, active learning functions fused with Kriging models are receiving significant attention and are extensively applied in various reliability analysis methods. It is argued unfavorably that the existing fusion-type methods usually obtain only a single optimal sample point during model updating process. Meanwhile, the information of the used sample points is not sufficiently utilized. To these gaps, this study proposes an adaptive Kriging reliability analysis method based on an approximate parallel computing strategy, namely AP-AK for short. To start with, a new Kriging model update strategy is proposed, where the first selected sample points help to introduce the intermediate model and further search for optimal points closer to the limit state surface. An improved learning function is then proposed to limit the locations of points based on the information of used sample points. The new function is characterized by setting the acceptance and rejection domains of the sample points, which prevents computational waste incurred by local sample point aggregation. Superior performance of the AP-AK method is demonstrated against other Kriging-based methods through five numerical cases and one solid attitude orbit control engine case. The comparison results show that the proposed method exhibits high efficiency and robustness for solving complex reliability analysis problems.