Structural reliability analysis using enhanced cuckoo search algorithm and artificial neural network

The present study proposed an enhanced cuckoo search (ECS) algorithm combined with artificial neural network (ANN) as the surrogate model to solve structural reliability problems. In order to enhance the accuracy and convergence rate of the original cuckoo search (CS) algorithm, the main parameters namely, abandon probability of worst nests pa and search step size α0 are dynamically adjusted via nonlinear control equations. In addition, a global-best guided equation incorporating the information of global best nest is introduced to the ECS to enhance its exploitation. Then, the proposed ECS is linked to the well-trained ANN model for structural reliability analysis. The computational capability of the proposed algorithm is validated using five typical structural reliability problems and an engineering application. The comparison results show the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed algorithm.