Reliability-based optimization for multiple constraints with evolutionary algorithms

Abstract

In this paper, we combine reliability-based optimization with a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for handling uncertainty in decision variables and parameters. This work is an extension to a previous study by the second author and his research group to more accurately compute a multi-constraint reliability. This means that the overall reliability of a solution regarding all constraints is examined, instead of a reliability computation of only one critical constraint. First, we present a brief introduction into this so-called 'structural reliability' aspects. Thereafter, we introduce a method for identifying inactive constraints according to the reliability evaluation. With this method, we show that with less number of constraint evaluations, an identical solution can be achieved. Furthermore, we apply our approach to a number of problems including a real-world car side impact design problem to illustrate our method.