ABSTRACT
The influence of the initial curvature shape on load-carrying capacity of a member under axial compression is analysed. The degree of the member load-carrying capacity to the initial curvature for three chosen member slenderness values is studied by means of the sensitivity analysis. The load-carrying capacity was calculated by the finite elements method applying the geometrically nonlinear solution. The realizations of imperfections were simulated by the numerical simulation method Latin Hypercube Sampling. The initial curvature shape of the member axis is modelled by using the so-called random fields. The experimental research results of the geometrical and material characteristics of an IPE member have been applied in the studies, see Melcher & Kala & al. (2003). The randomness of input quantities is taken into consideration by their histograms.
