Stochastic finite element method based on point estimate and Karhunen–Loéve expansion

Abstract

The present study proposes a new stochastic finite element method. The Karhunen–Loéve expansion is utilized to discretize the stochastic field, while the point estimate method is applied for calculating the random response of the structure. Two illustrative examples, including finite element models with one-dimensional and two-dimensional stochastic fields, are investigated to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Furthermore, two classical finite element analysis methods are used to validate the results. It is proved that the proposed method can model both the one-dimensional and the two-dimensional stochastic finite element problems accurately and efficiently.