A NUMERICAL STUDY ON THE ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF DAMAGED TUBULAR BRACING MEMBERS UNDER AXIAL COMPRESSION

摘要

The tubular bracing members of offshore structures may sustain collision damages from the supply ships, which lead to the deterioration of the load carrying capacity of tubular bracing members. This paper presents a numerical simulation of the ultimate strength of damaged tubular bracing members under axial compression with the nonlinear finite element code ABAQUS, based on previous experimental investigations. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the load capacity of damaged tubular bracing members, by considering the effects of diameter (D), wall thickness (H), pipe length (L) and the damage positions on the ultimate strength of tubular members. It is found that lateral damage can cause great reduction of the axial load capacity of tubular members. In addition, an approximate equation to predict the ultimate strength of tubular members based on the given damage depth is proposed.