Robustness and reliability investigations on a nonlinear energy sink device concept

In this work, the reliability and robustness of a nonlinear energy sink device concept are investigated. The system is studied and optimized in deterministic and probabilistic cases. It is also studied under various types of uncertainty modelings with different reliability based robust design optimization formulations. The obtained results reveal the sensitivity of the device to the input uncertainties. The optimal designs obtained with the formulation under uncertainties are very different from the deterministic optimal design. New system configurations are obtained which ensure robust, highly reliable designs. In addition, a comparison is made between the different formulations and a conclusion is drawn about the suitable formulations for such a problem