Two nonprobabilistic set-theoretical treatments of the initial imperfection sensitive structure—a finite column on a nonlinear mixed quadratic-cubic elastic foundation—are presented. The minimum buckling load is determined as a function of the parameters, which describe the range of possible initial imperfection profiles of the column. The two set-theoretical models are “interval analysis” and “convex modeling.” The first model represents the range of variation of the most significant $N$ Fourier coefficients by a hypercuboid set. In the second model, the uncertainty in the initial imperfection profile is expressed by an ellipsoidal set in $N$-dimensional Euclidean space. The minimum buckling load is then evaluated in both the hypercuboid and the ellipsoid. A comparison between these methods and the probabilistic method are performed, where the probabilistic results at different reliability levels are taken as the benchmarks of accuracy for judgment. It is demonstrated that a nonprobabilistic model of uncertainty may be an alternative method for buckling analysis of a column on a nonlinear mixed quadratic-cubic elastic foundation under limited information on initial imperfection.

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