An interdependency index for the outputs of uncertain systems

The study of mechanical systems with uncertain parameters is gaining increasing interest in the field of system analysis to provide an expedient model for the prediction of the system behavior. Making use of the Transformation Method, the uncertain parameters of the system are modeled by fuzzy numbers in contrast to random numbers used in stochastic approaches. As a result of this analysis, a quantification of the overall uncertainty of the system outputs, including a worst-case scenario, is obtained. The inputs of the resulting fuzzy-valued model are a priori uncorrelated but after the uncertainties are propagated through the model, interdependency (or interaction) between the outputs may arise. If such interdependency is neglected, a misinterpretation of the results may occur. For example, in the case of applying uncertainty analysis in the early design phase of a product to determine the relevant design-parameter space, the interdependency between the design variables may reduce significantly the available part of the design space. This paper proposes a measure of interdependency between the uncertain system outputs. The interdependency index can be derived by a postprocessing of the data gained by the analysis with the Transformation Method. Such information can be obtained by a negligible amount of extra computation time. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.