Point group identification algorithm in dynamic response analysis of nonlinear stochastic systems

The point group identification (PGI) algorithm is proposed to determine the representative point sets in response analysis of nonlinear stochastic dynamic systems. The PGI algorithm is employed to identify point groups and their feature points in an initial point set by combining subspace clustering analysis and the graph theory. Further, the representative point set of the random-variate space is determined according to the minimum generalized F-discrepancy. The dynamic responses obtained by incorporating the algorithm PGI into the probability density evolution method (PDEM) are compared with those by the Monte Carlo simulation method. The investigations indicate that the proposed method can reduce the number of the representative points, lower the generalized F-discrepancy of the representative point set, and also ensure the accuracy of stochastic structural dynamic analysis. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.