General SCF design equations for steel multiplanar tubular XX-joints

This paper concentrates on the parametric stress analysis of steel multipla nar tubular XX-joints using the finite element method (FEM). A database of stress concentration factors (SCFs) at fixed hot spot stress locations was built up by carrying out about 320 runs of finite element (FE) analysis on 64 XX-joint models covering a wide range of geometrical parameters. Five di fferent load cases of basic brace and chord axial load, in-plane-bending (I PB) and out-of-plane-bending (OPB) moments were considered. Through the par ametric study, a set of SCF design equations was established for general en d loading. An assessment study was carried out against the original FEM SCF database and two databases built upon experimental investigations. The ass essment results satisfied the latest parametric equation acceptance criteri a. This confirmed the accuracy and reliability of the proposed SCF design e quations. In addition, practical examples were given to illustrate the appl ication of such equations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.