Resistance and Elastic Stiffness of RHS "T" Joints: Part II - Combined Axial Brace and Chord Loading

Abstract

This paper deals with the behaviour of welded “T” joints between RHS sections submitted to tension brace loading combined with chord axial loading. In the companion paper (part I) a finite element model and a study without axial load in the chord, focusing on the joint behaviour as a function of the significant geometrical variables, were presented. In this part II paper, tension loading on the brace is incremented up to the joint failure, but is combined with different chord load levels in tension or compression, that are kept constant for each case. The same geometries and geometric variables as in the companion paper are used, and therefore the influence of these features together with the chord load level (in tension or compression) on the connection’s response is evaluated. The force-displacement curves from the different geometries and chord load levels are analysed and compared, with a special attention on the influence of the chord load on the joint resistance and stiffness. Finally, a comparison of the numerical results with the Eurocode 3 (2005) and the newer ISO 14346 (2013) provisions is presented and discussed.