Mechanical Reliability SimulationJianfeng Xu, Yalian Xie, Dan Xu Shanghai Institute of Process Automation Instrumentation Shanghai, PRC Abstract — This article provides a numerical method to simulate the reliability of a complicated mechanical system with multiple input random parameters. The method bases on the theory of mechanical reliability and uses a commercial FEM software, ANSYS. The quantitative reliability of the mechanical system is obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. The method is verified by theoretical analysis and is applied to a real structure. This method has prevented the tedious mathematical calculation and is more economical than experimental methods. It can be used as a complement of traditional experimental methods.Keywords— Mechanical Reliability; Finite ElementMethod; Monte Carlo SimulationI.I NTRODUCTIONBased on the national standard GB/T 3187-1994 [1], reliability has been defined as “the probability that a product will satisfactorily perform its intended function under given circumstances for a specified period of time”. Reliability has been viewed as one of the most critical parameters for the products. For example, it is said in US that reliability will be the focus of competition for the future products. Most Japanese companies take more reliable product as their main objective for company development. Therefore, to accurately predict the reliability of the product, and to optimize the design based on the reliability requirements is very meaningful.Generally a mechanical system is composed by many parts. A system’s reliability is determined by many parameters, such as the number of components, the quality of the components and also how those components are assembled. It is also rel...
