An Overview of Adaptive-Surrogate-Model-Assisted Methods for Reliability-Based Design Optimization

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is one of the most crucial techniques in complex and reliability-critical engineering systems. This has been a research hotspot over the past few decades. RBDO allows us to take into consideration the uncertainties from various sources, during the early design stage. It provides a design that satisfies various constraints as well as the reliability of the designed system performing the expected functions. Such capabilities can serve as countermeasures against the foreseeable uncertainties in the manufacturing or application process. Following a short preliminary overview of RBDO as well as the canonical strategies, this article sets out to review how surrogate models have been explored to streamline RBDO. This is done through a systematic study, outlining their respective advantages as well as disadvantages, and discussing the problems that need to be solved.