Abstract
This paper studies the applicability of the path integral solution technique for estimating extreme response of nonlinear dynamic oscillators whose equations of motion can be modelled by the use of Itô stochastic differential equations. The state vector process associated with such a model is generally a diffusion process, and the probability density function of the state vector thus satisfies the Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equation. It is shown that the path integral solution technique combined with an appropriate numerical scheme constitutes a powerful method for solving the Fokker-Planck Kolmogorov equation with natural boundary conditions. With the calculated probability density function of the state vector in hand, one can proceed to calculate the required quantities for estimating extreme response. The proposed method distinguishes itself by remarkably high accuracy and numerical robustness. These features are highlighted by application to example studies of nonlinear oscillators excited by white noise.