Reliability and sensitivity analysis of pultruded GFRP I-sections resistance to flexural and lateral-torsional buckling

Resumo

Civil industry demands increasingly for materials with outstanding properties and economic viability. In this sense, Pultruded Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) profiles are experiencing great acceptability and usage in civil construction as innovative structural elements. This is due to its lightness, excellent mechanical properties-to-weight ratios, cost-effective manufacturing process, improved durability and so many other advantages. However, despite the growing application of these materials, there are scarce efforts towards development of recommendations or design standards for FRP structures based on reliability concepts. Frequently in the design of FRP frames buckling phenomena governs the structural ultimate limit state design research, because of the high strength to stiffness ratio of this material compared to conventional ones. The present work evaluates a reliability and sensitivity analysis of global buckling ultimate limit state of I-section pultruded beams, aiming to capture the effect of uncertainties related to initial imperfections, material properties and loading in the structure reliability index, and its sensitivity to modeled uncertainties.