Eurocode-compliant system-level reliability analyses of trussed portal frames under climatic loads

Abstract

Eurocode 3 provides Geometrically and Materially Nonlinear Analysis with Imperfections-method (GMNIA) in which the entire structure can be designed in system-level. In GMNIA, reliability of structural system is verified by using a system safety factor which is obtained in Eurocode 3 based on numerical or experimental capacity test results. Unfortunately, such test results are scarcely published in the literature thus complicating the determination of the factor for a design engineer. In the so-called Direct Design Method, however, system safety factors are provided in advance for the design engineer by system-level reliability studies. This study determines the Eurocode-compliant GMNIA system safety factor for Warren truss portal frames by using the approach of the Direct Design Method. Advanced numerical models are utilized to perform Monte Carlo-simulations for entire structural systems. These simulations provide statistical distributions of system resistances which are employed in the First-Order Reliability Method to derive the system safety factors. Studied structures are made of S700 cold-formed hollow sections. Various system geometries, system configurations and load combinations consisting of snow and wind loads are investigated and a suitable system safety factor is proposed for the ultimate limit state design of Warren truss portal frames. The proposed system safety factor is applied in a practical comparison in which Warren system is designed both by the conventional Eurocode 3 method and GMNIA. This comparison reveals that GMNIA has a remarkable potential to offer reduced material consumption in design compared to the conventional method.