Interval approach to robust design
Purpose - Aims to present a novel approach for the worst-case, robust design (RD) of an electromagnetic system able to overcome some discretionary aspects of the available methods. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed methodology is based on a suitable application of the interval arithmetic and considers the width of the interval Taylor extension (WITE) of the performance function (PF) as a valuable robustness index (RI). In particular, the most robust stationary point is obtained by looking for the minimum of a continuous, non-differentiable function thanks to the properties of WITE. Findings - The method furnishes a reliable classification of the robust solutions with PFs expressed by either mono or multi-dimensional polynomial forms and provides the over-bounding of the PF without additional computational efforts. Research limitations/implications - Limitations concern the necessity of an analytic formulation of the system performance. The IA approach may lead to lose some robust solution. Practical implications - A RI can be assigned in analytic form and it can be suitably used as a figure of merit in a multi-objective optimisation problem. Originality/value - The use of the interval analysis for the worst-case, RD of an electromagnetic system is original. The system designer may find the most robust stationary solution by means of a continuous, non-differentiable function.
arithmetic electromagnetic fields uncertainty management