Stability problems of steel structures in the presence of stochastic and fuzzy uncertainty

General ideas and problems of probability approach and its utilization in the verification of structural design procedures of EUROCODES are mentioned. The paper is aimed at the probability study of the ultimate limit state of a steel compressed member designed economically according to EUROCODE 3. The theoretical failure probability (reliability index) vs. ratio of permanent to variable load action is calculated by means of the Monte Carlo simulation method. The misalignment of the failure probability according to EN1990 is analysed. Initial imperfections are generally considered as random variables and random fields. The non-linear beam FEM is used. The influence of initial curvature shape and size variability of the member axis on the variability of load-carrying capacity is investigated. The probabilistic analysis is supplemented with the fuzzy analysis of the influence of uncertainties on the failure probability. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.