Possibilistic reliability analysis of mechanical structure with uncertainties

This paper applies the possibilistic reliability theory proposed by us in a previous paper to the analysis of mechanical structures with uncertainties. This paper explains in much detail the mathemetics of computing two important expressions proposed in Ref. 5: fuzzy reliability index and possibility of failure. Two numerical examples are given; (1) a machine part whose speed of wear is an uncertain Gaussian variable; (2) a structural member whose performance function is nonlinear. The numerical results show that the presented procedures are effective and feasible.