• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.230-237
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• 2000

Tubular joints of jacket structures are usually reinforced using thicker can section, internally ring stiffeners, diaphragm, or externally gusset plates to increase load carry capacity. In this paper, the effect of reinforcement type and geometric parameters of stiffener on the ultimate strength of tubular X-joints subjected to brace compression have been studied numerically Three reinforcement methods were considered; (1)can reinforcement (2)internally ring stiffener (3)internally longitudinal diaphragm. The ANSYS software was used nonlinear strength analysis. It was found that there is significant strength enhancement for reinforced joints.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.677-698
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• 2005

In engineering practice, tubular connections are usually assumed pinned or rigid. Recent research showed that tubular joints may exhibit non-rigid behavior under axial or bending loads. This paper is concerned with establishing a new classification for tubular joints and investigating the effect of joint rigidity on the global behavior of CHS (Circular Hollow Section) lattice girders. Parametric formulae for predicting tubular joint rigidities are proposed, which are based on the finite element analyses through systematic variation of the main geometric parameters. Comparison with test results proves the reliability of these formulae. By considering the deformation patterns of respective parts of Vierendeel lattice girders, the boundary between rigid and semirigid tubular connections is built in terms of joint bending rigidity. In order to include characteristics of joint rigidity in the global structural analysis, a type of semirigid element which can effectively reflect the interaction of two braces in K joints is introduced and validated. The numerical example of a Warren lattice girder with different joint models shows the great effect of tubular joint rigidities on the internal forces, deformation and secondary stresses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1017-1029
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• 2016

When a welded circular hollow section (CHS) tubular joint is subjected to brace axial loading, failure position is located usually at the weld toe on the chord surface due to the weak flexural stiffness of the thin-walled chord. The failure mode is local yielding or buckling in most cases for a tubular joint subjected to axial load at the brace end. Especially when a cyclic axial load is applied, fracture failure at the weld toe may occur because both high stress concentration and welding residual stress along the brace/chord intersection cause the material in this region to become brittle. To improve the ductility as well as to increase the static strength, a tubular joint can be reinforced by increasing the chord thickness locally near the brace/chord intersection. Both experimental investigation and finite element analysis have been carried out to study the hysteretic behaviour of the reinforced tubular joint. In the experimental study, the hysteretic performance of two full-scale circular tubular T-joints subjected to cyclic load in the axial direction of the brace was investigated. The two specimens include a reinforced specimen by increasing the wall thickness of the chord locally at the brace/chord intersection and a corresponding un-reinforced specimen. The hysteretic loops are obtained from the measured load-displacement curves. Based on the hysteretic curves, it is found that the reinforced specimen is more ductile than the un-reinforced one because no fracture failure is observed after experiencing similar loading cycles. The area enclosed by the hysteretic curves of the reinforced specimen is much bigger, which shows that more energy can be dissipated by the reinforced specimen to indicate the advantage of the reinforcing method in resisting seismic action. Additionally, finite element analysis is carried out to study the effect of the thickness and the length of the reinforced chord segment on the hysteretic behaviour of CHS tubular T-joints. The optimized reinforcing method is recommended for design purposes.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.162-169
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• 2001

Tubular joints are usually reinforced using thicker can section or ring stiffeners to increase the load carrying capacity. In this paper, a numerical study has been performed for evaluation of axial strength for X-joints with internal ring stiffener, The finite element analysis software was used for nonlinear strength analysis. According to variation of ring geometries, the effect of ring stiffener for X-joints are investigated. Internal ring stiffener is found to be efficient improving ultimate strength of tubular joints. Relations of thickness of ring and axial strength are observed considering geometric parameters of ring stiffeners.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2003

The fatigue behaviour of six different hollow section T-joints subjected to out-of-plane bending moment was investigated experimentally using scaled steel models. The joints had circular brace members and rectangular chord members. Hot spot stresses and the stress concentration factors. (SCFs) were determined experimentally. Fatigue testing was carried out under constant amplitude loading in air. The test results have been statistically evaluated, and show that the experimental SCF values for circular-to-rectangular (CHS-to-RHS) hollow section joints were found to be below those of circular-to-circular (CHS-to-CHS) hollow section joints. The fatigue strength, referred to experimental hot spot stress, was in reasonably good agreement with referred fatigue design codes for tubular joints.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.2A
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• pp.113-120
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• 2010

The use of Concrete filled circular hollow steel section (CFCHS) members in bridge design is a relatively new concept. The most important part of the design and durability of such structures is the design and the construction of the joints. In the design of recently constructed steel-concrete composite bridges using CFCHS truss girders for the main load carrying structure, the fatigue verification of the tubular spatial truss joints was a main issue. Welded CFCHS joints are very sensitive to fatigue because the geometric discontinuities of the welds lead to a high stress concentration. New research done on the fatigue behaviour of such joints has focused on CFCHS N-joints, directly welded, with finite element analysis method. A commercial software, ABAQUS, is adopted to perform the finite element analysis on the N-joints. This paper is main focused on these topics, including hot spot stress.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.281-284
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• 2001

Fatigue behaviour of eight different hollow section T-joints was investigated experimentally using scaled steel models. The joints had circular brace members and rectangular chords (CRHS). Hot spot stresses and the stress concentration factors (SCFs) were determined experimentally. Fatigue testing was carried out under constant amplitude loading in air. The experimental SCF values for CRHS joints were found to be between those of circular-to-circular (CCHS) and rectangular-to-rectangular (RRHS) hollow section joints. The fatigue strength referred to experimental hot spot stress was in reasonably good agreement with current fatigue design codes for tubular joints.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.119-127
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• 2002

This paper presents a study of the behaviour of bolted circular flange joints in tubular structures. In the tests on nine circular flange joints, different tension forces was applied to the joints and bolt strains, displacements and strains in the joints have been measured. Bolt strain, contact force(prying force) between flanges and stress distribution in a joint have been studied. Different methods used for the design of circular flange joints are described.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.298-303
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• 2016

Owing to the advantages of reduced weight and wind effect, the space-framed towers that consist of vertical and horizontal members of circular hollow tubular sections have been adopted widely for various purposes. It is critical to guarantee the strengths of tubular joints where vertical and horizontal members are connected structurally to make the entire space-framed system behave as a single tower structure. In this study, a strength evaluation was conducted for T-type tubular joints subjected to the concurrent action of compression and bending. Three of the available design codes, i.e., AISC, Eurocode 3, ISO 19902 were investigated and a design equation was suggested for an ultimate strength interaction between the axial force and bending moment based on nonlinear finite element analyses by selecting the slenderness ratios at the joints as major parameters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.443-456
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• 2017

Many authors have established the usefulness of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) sections as compression members while few have proved their utility as flexural members. To explore their prospective as part of CFST frame structures, two types of connections using extended end plate and seat angle are proposed for exterior joints of CFST beams and CFST columns. To investigate the performance and failure modes of the proposed bolted connections subjected to static loads, an experimental program has been executed involving ten specimens of exterior beam-to-column joints subjected to monotonically increasing load applied at the tip of beam, the performance is appraised in terms of load deformation behaviour of joints. The test parameters varied are the beam section type, type and diameter of bolts. To validate the experimental behaviour of the proposed connections in CFST beam-column joints, finite element analysis for the applied load has been performed using software ATENA-3D and the results of the proposed models are compared with experimental results. The experimental results obtained agree that the proposed CFST beam-column connections perform in a semi-rigid and partial strength mode as per specification of EC3.