Reliability-based optimum distribution of seismic energy dissipation devices in fuzzy structural systems using meta-models

Consideration of uncertainties involved in the structural design of buildings is important for ensuring safety against earthquake load. However, optimum design of structures considering uncertainties requires a significant amount of computational effort, which makes it difficult to apply in practice. The current study proposes a framework to provide an optimal distribution of energy dissipation devices in building structures with various uncertainties using meta-model techniques. The uncertainties involved in the design parameters are modeled as fuzzy variables, and the optimum seismic retrofit design of a structure is carried out using steel-slit dampers to satisfy a given limit state. The polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) and PCE-Kriging models are selected for uncertainty quantification and seismic performance evaluation of fuzzy structural systems. The analysis results show that the developed meta models are accurate in comparison with the conventional seismic performance evaluation techniques, and are especially useful in the optimum seismic retrofit design of structures with inherent uncertainties.