Behaviour of square-to-square tubular joints subjected to basic and combined loadings

Abstract

This work presents a systematic study of stresses in square-to-square tubular joints. The stress concentration factors at the weld toe for a large geometrical sets of T/Y square-to-square tubular joints were determined by extensive finite element analysis. These cover a wide range of joint geometries subjected to axial, in-plane-bending and out-of-plane-bending moments. The results form the basis for developing the parametric formulae. For each mode of loading, on both the chord and brace sides at the brace/chord intersection, a set of parametric equations were developed. These formulae relate the stress concentration factors to a parametric function of the joint geometries.