Structural Engineering and Mechanics

Volume 33, Number 5, 2009, pages 589-604

DOI: 10.12989/sem.2009.33.5.589

Load spectra growth modelling and extrapolation with REBMIX

Matej Volk, Matija Fajdiga and Marko Nagode

Abstract

In the field of predicting structural safety and reliability the operating conditions play an essential role. Since the time and cost limitations are a significant factors in engineering it is important to predict the future operating conditions as close to the actual state as possible from small amount of available data. Because of the randomness of the environment the shape of measured load spectra can vary considerably and therefore simple distribution functions are frequently not sufficient for their modelling. Thus mixed distribution functions have to be used. In general their major weakness is the complicated calculation of unknown parameters. The scope of the paper is to investigate the load spectra growth for actual operating conditions and to investigate the modelling and extrapolation of load spectra with algorithm for mixed distribution estimation, REBMIX. The data obtained from the measurements of wheel forces and the braking moment on proving ground is used to generate load spectra.

Key Words

load spectra growth; extrapolation; reliability; mixed distribution function; alternative algorithm.

Address

Matej Volk, Matija Fajdiga and Marko Nagode: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, A