New reliability modeling methods for structural systems with hybrid uncertainty

The present study investigates the hybrid reliability modeling of structures in which the inputs contain both random variables and interval variables. Hybrid uncertainty is divided into three categories, including random variables mixed with random variables, interval variables mixed with interval variable, and random variables mixed with interval variables. In order to perform the reliability analysis of structural systems, first, the Bayes method is proposed in the present study to obtain distribution parameters of random variables. Moreover, the self-sample method is introduced to obtain the interval boundaries based on the least available measuring data. Then, the reliability models are established for three situations and the reliability indices are defined and derived accordingly. The abovementioned three types of reliability indices outline the general situation of structural systems. Finally, the specific calculation process is described in details through different examples. Furthermore, the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is discussed by comparing the results obtained from the Monte Carlo simulation and those of other methods. The obtained results indicate that the performance of the proposed model in solving reliability modeling problems is better.