• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.323-342
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• 2016

To study the effect of collar-plate reinforcement on the static strength of tubular T-joints under axial loading, fundamental research work is carried out from both experimental test and finite element (FE) simulation. Through experimental tests on 7 collar-plate reinforced and 7 corresponding un-reinforced tubular T-joints under axial loading, the reinforcing efficiency is investigated. Thereafter, the static strengths of the above 14 models are analyzed by using FE method, and it is found that the numerical results agree reasonably well with the experimental data to prove the accuracy of the presented FE model. Additionally, a parametric study is conducted to analyze the effect of some geometrical parameters, i.e., the brace-to-chord diameter ratio ${\beta}$, the chord diameter-to-chord wall thickness ratio $2{\gamma}$, collar-plate thickness to chord wall thickness ratio ${\tau}_c$, and collar-plate length to brace diameter ratio $l_c/d_1$, on the static strength of a tubular T-joint. The parametric study shows that the static strength can be greatly improved by increasing the collar-plate thickness to chord wall thickness ratio ${\tau}_c$ and the collar-plate length to brace diameter ratio $l_c/d_1$. Based on the numerical results, parametric equations are obtained from curving fitting technique to estimate the static strength of a tubular T-joint with collar-plate reinforcement under axial loading, and the accuracy of these equations is also evaluated from error analysis.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1045-1062
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• 2015

Concrete-filled circular t steel tubular joints (CFSTJs) in practice are frequently subjected to fluctuated loadings caused by wind, earthquake and so on. As fatigue crack is sensitive to such cyclic loadings, assessment on performance of CFSTJs with crack-like defect attracts more concerns because both high stress concentration at the brace/chord intersection and welding residual stresses along weld toe cause the materials in the region around the intersection to be more brittle. Once crack initiates and propagates along the weld toe, tri-axial stresses in high gradient around the crack front exist, which may bring brittle fracture failure. Additionally, the stiffness and the load carrying capacity of the CFSTJs with crack may decrease due to the weakened connection at the intersection. To study the behaviour of CFSTJs with initial crack, experimental tests have been carried out on three full-scale CFCST T-joints with same configuration. The three specimens include one uncracked joint and two corresponding cracked joints. Load-displacement and load-deformation curves, failure mode and crack propagation are obtained from the experiment measurement. According to the experimental results, it can be found that he load carrying capacity of the cracked joints is decreased by more than 10% compared with the uncracked joint. The effect of crack depth on the load carrying capacity of CFCST T-joints seems to be slight. The failure mode of the cracked CFCST T-joints represents as plastic yielding rather than brittle fracture through experimental observation.

• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2006

A comprehensive review of through thickness transverse residual stress distributions in a range of as-welded and mechanically bent components made up of a range of steels has been carried out, and simplified generic transverse residual stress profiles for a plate and pipe components have been proposed. The geometries consisted of welded pipe butt joints, T-plate joints, tubular T-joints, tubular Y-joints and a pipe on plate joints as well as cold bent tubes and pipes. The collected data covered a range of engineering steels including ferritic, austenitic, C-Mn and Cr-Mo steels. Measured residual stress data, normalised with respect to the parent material yield stress, has shown a good linear correlation versus the normalised depth of the region containing the residual stress resulting from the welding or cold-bending process. The proposed simplified generic residual stress profiles based on the mean statistical linear fit of all the data provides a reasonably conservative prediction of the stress intensity factors. Whereas the profiles for the assessment procedures are fixed and case specific, the simple bilinear profiles for the residual stresses obtained by shifting the mean and bending stress from the mean regression line have been proposed and validated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.739-756
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• 2015

This paper presents investigations on the hysteretic behavior of concrete-filled circular tubular (CFCT) T-joints subjected to axial cyclic loading at brace end. In the experimental study, four specimens are fabricated and tested. The chord members of the tested specimens are filled with concrete along their full length and the braces are hollow section. Failure modes and load-displacement hysteretic curves of all the specimens obtained from experimental tests are given and discussed. Some indicators, in terms of stiffness deterioration, strength deterioration, ductility and energy dissipation, are analyzed to assess the seismic performance of CFCT joints. Test results indicate that the failures are primarily caused by crack cutting through the chord wall, convex deformation on the chord surface near brace/chord intersection and crushing of the core concrete. Hysteretic curves of all the specimens are plump, and no obvious pinching phenomenon is found. The energy dissipation result shows that the inelastic deformation is the main energy dissipation mechanism. It is also found from experimental results that the CFCT joints show clear and steady stiffness deterioration with the increase of displacement after yielding. However, all the specimens do not perform significant strength deterioration before failure. The effect of joint geometric parameters ${\beta}$ and ${\gamma}$ of the four specimens on hysteretic performance is also discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.383-390
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• 2017

This paper highlights the experimental and numerical investigations performed on a tubular T-joint fabricated from circular hollow sections under axial compressive loads applied at the brace. Tests were performed on a reference joint and the joint wrapped with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). The Nitowrap EP carbon fiber with Nitowrap 410 resin serve as a composite material is used for wrapping the T-joint. Schematic diagram of the fabricated tubular joint for the experimental test setup, along with the experimental and numerical results are presented. After performing these experiments, it has been demonstrated that the joint wrapped with CFRP has a better strength and lesser deflection than a reference joint. Finite element analysis carried out in Ansys reveals that the results were in good correlation with the experimental values.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.123-140
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• 2003

The importance of the research on moment-resistant properties of unstiffened tubular joints and the research background are introduced. The performed experimental research on the bending rigidity and capacity of the joints is reported. The emphasis is put on the discussion of the flexural behavior of the joints including sets of geometrical parameters of the joints and several loading combinations. Procedures and results of loading tests on four full size joints in planar KK and X configuration are described in details at first. Mechanical models are proposed to analyze the joint specimens. Three-dimensional nonlinear FE models are established and verified with the experimental results. By comparing the experimental data with the results of the analysis, it is reported reasonable to carry out the structural analysis under the assumption that the joint is fully rigidly connected, and their bending capacities can assure the strength of the members connected under certain limitation. Furthermore, a parametric formula for inplane bengding rigidity of T and Y type tubular joints is proposed on the basis of FE calculation and regression analysis. Compared with test results, it is shown that the parametric formula developed in this paper has good applicability.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-55
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• 2023

In this study, the SCFs in tubular T-joints stiffened with external ring under axial load are studied and discussed. After verification of the present numerical model with the results of several available experimental tests, 156 FE models were generated and analyzed to parametrically evaluate the effect of the joint geometry and the ring geometry on the SCFs. Results indicated that the SCF of the stiffened T-joints at crown point can be down to 24% of the SCF of the corresponding un-reinforced joint at the same point. Also, the effect of the ring on the SCF at saddle point is more remarkable than the effect of the ring on the SCF at crown point. Moreover, against un-reinforced joints under axial load, the SCF at saddle point of the stiffened joint is smaller than the SCF at crown point of that stiffened joint. The ring results in the redistribution of stresses in the ring and metal substrate. Also, the effect of the ring thickness on the decrease of the SCFs is slight and can be ignored. In final step, the geometric parameters affecting the SCFs of the stiffened T-joints are analyzed by multiple nonlinear regression analyses. An accurate formula is proposed for determining the SCFs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.5 s.176
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• pp.1331-1342
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• 2000

In power generation systems a variety of structural components typically operate at high temperature and pressure. Therefore a life assessment methodology accounting for gradual creep fracture is increasingly needed for these components. The most critical defects in such structure are generally found in the form of semi-elliptical surface cracks in the welded tubular joints. Therefore the analysis of a semi-elliptical surface crack in a plate or a shell is an important problem in engineering fracture mechanics. On this background, via shell/line-spring finite element analyses of such surface cracks in the welded T and L joints under various loadings, we investigate J-integral along the crack front We first develop T and L joints auto mesh generation program providing ABAQUS input file composed of shell/line-spring finite elements. We then further develop a T and L joints life assessment program based on the experimental creep crack growth law and auto mesh generation program in a graphical user interface format Finally the remaining life of T and L joints for various analytical parameters are assessed using the developed life assessment program.