Quantile-oriented Global Sensitivity Analysis of Design Resistance

The article investigates the application of a new type of global quantile-oriented sensitivity analysis (called QSA in the article) and contrasts it with established Sobol’ sensitivity analysis (SSA). Comparison of QSA of the resistance design value (0.1 percentile) with SSA is performed on an example of the analysis of the resistance of a steel IPN 200 beam, which is subjected to lateral-torsional buckling. The resistance is approximated using higher order polynomial metamodels created from advanced non-linear FE models. The main, higher order and total effects are calculated using the Latin Hypercube Sampling method. Noticeable differences between the two methods are found, with QSA apparently revealing higher sensitivity of the resistance design value to random input second and higher order interactions (compared to SSA). SSA cannot identify certain reliability aspects of structural design as comprehensively as QSA, particularly in relation to higher order interactions effects of input imperfections. In order to better understand the reasons for the differences between QSA and SSA, two simple examples are presented, where QSA (median) and SSA show a general agreement in the calculation of certain sensitivity indices.