PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPATIBILITY CONDITIONS IN MODELING TUBULAR JOINTS USING BRICK AND SHELL ELEMENTS

It is a common practice to model an offshore tubular joint using isopa rametric brick elements for the brace/chord intersection region, inclu ding the weldment, and shell elements for the rest of the joint. Howev er, it is an extremely tedious procedure to implement the necessary an d sufficient compatiability conditions at all nodes lying on the inter face between brick and shell elements. An investigation has been carri ed out to examine the effects of partial relaxation of compatibility c onditions on the location and magnitude of hot spot stresses at the br ace/chord intersection. Results obtained have shown that as long as th e compatibility conditions at the shell loof nodes were implemented, t he hot spot stresses obtained would be reasonably accurate. It was als o found that using 3 or more rows of brick elements after the weld toe will ensure better accuracy of results.