Effects of Uncertain Material Properties on Structural Stability
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 121, Issue 4
Abstract
The effects of uncertain material properties on the elastic stability of structural members and frames are analyzed using a stochastic finite-element method. The uncertain material properties are modeled as continuous random fields by a series expansion involving orthogonal functions. The expanded random fields are incorporated into the finite-element formulation leading to an eigenvalue problem involving random parameters. A mean-centered second-order perturbation technique is used to find the probabilistic characteristics of the buckling load. Illustrations involving a simply supported beam, a simply supported beam on an elastic foundation, and a frame are presented. These illustrations demonstrate the impact on instability of characteristics of the random fields, including correlation length and coefficients of variation of random flexural rigidity and/or random elastic foundation modulus, finite-element mesh selection, and the interrelation between statistical and finite-element modeling. A comparison of the perturbation solutions with the results from Monte Carlo simulation serves to validate the solutions and identify some of their limitations.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 121 • Issue 4 • April 1995
Pages: 705 - 716
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 1, 1995
Published in print: Apr 1995
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