Large Displacement Analysis of Elastic Pyramidal Trusses

The aim of the present study is the analysis of the loss of stability of von Mises planar trusses with initial imperfections. The loading process is controlled by the size of the vertical static load in the top joint. Load-deflection curves are determined using the elastic geometric nonlinear solution based on beam finite elements. The influence of the random variability of initial imperfections on the load-deflection curves is the subject of research. The results showed the influence of asymmetric random imperfections on the load-deflection curves. (paper)