Possibility and evidence theory based design optimization: A survey

An annotated survey of approaches to design optimization based on possibility theory and evidence theory is presented and prominent characteristics are described in this paper, especially addressing epistemic uncertainty for large-scale and complex systems when statistical data is scarce or incomplete. We first analyze the uncertainties encountered in design and the limitations of probabilistic approach. Then possibility-based design optimization (PBDO), evidence-based design optimization (EBDO) and their integrated approaches are comparatively investigated respectively, form the viewpoints of computational development and performance improvement. After that, this paper discusses the fusion technologies and an example of integrated approach in reliability to reveal the qualitative value and efficiency. In the end, technical difficulties, application areas and future directions are summarized.