Anti-optimisation of uncertain structures using interval analysis

This paper considers the static displacement bounds of structures modelled using uncertain (but non-random) parameters. In the analysis, the uncertain parameters are assumed to take deterministic values within a specified interval. and the bounds of the displacement are obtained by solving interval linear equations. Two new methods for solving these equations are proposed. The first is a modified version of interval perturbation analysis, while the second is based on the assumption that the displacement surface is monotonic. Numerical results indicate that both methods are more accurate than standard interval perturbation analysis and more efficient than the combinatorial approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.