Grid Feature-Based Weighted Simulation Method for Multi-Objective Reliability-Based Design Optimization

Reliability analysis and reliability-based design have attracted huge attention since their origin, especially in the engineering design optimization field. Integrating a novel grid feature (GF) mechanism into the weighted simulation method (WSM), a grid feature-based weighted simulation method (GFWSM) is proposed in this paper. By sorting the samples in the random variable space, the GF mechanism serializes the failure probability calculation process, which can reduce the number of performance function evaluations required by the WSM. The proposed GFWSM is integrated into an efficient evolutionary multi-objective optimizer, disruption-based multi-objective equilibrium optimization algorithm (DMOEOA), for solving multi-objective reliability-based design optimization (MORBDO) problems. Different reliability analysis examples are employed to verify the advantages of the proposed GFWSM. Various constrained multi-objective reliability-based design optimization problems have been selected to test the effectiveness of the GFWSM-DMOEOA algorithm. The simulation results indicate that GFWSM and GFWSM-DMOEOA algorithm have achieved a good balance between accuracy and efficiency.