INITIAL STUDY ON THE STATIC STRENGTH OF THIN-WALLED RECTANGULAR HOLLOW SECTION (RHS) K-JOINTS WITH GAP

摘要

Presently, Eurocode 3 provides design guidelines for rectangular hollow section joints made up of members having b/t < 35. However, in practice there is an increasing demand to use more slender sections. This paper presents the results of initial numerical and analytical studies on the static strength of uni-planar K-joints with gap made of rectangular hollow sections (RHS) having b/t > 35. A numerical model has been developed and calibrated with existing experimental results. The aspects considered are material and geometrical non-linearity, modelling of the weld and analysis procedure. The results of the numerical calibration are further used for a parameter study, which give the first important results for the behaviour of such thin walled K-joints.