Structural behaviour of T RHS joints subjected to chord axial force

摘要

This paper presents an experimental and numerical analysis of the chord normal stresses influencernon the “T” tubular joints behaviour. The experimental program consisted of six tests: two without chord axialrnforces; two with compressive chord forces; and the remaining two with tensile chord forces. These results wererncompared to numerical results obtained with the aid of the ANSYS 12.0 software, and to the design provisionsrnpresent in the: Eurocode 3; NBR 16239:2013 Brazilian standard and ISO 14346. This assessment indicatedrnthat the results obtained for chords without axial forces and with compressive forces, in both experiments andrnnumerical analyses, were safe when compared to the values predicted by all the investigated standards, wherernthe best fit was obtained by ISO 14346. On the other hand, the results associated to cases with chord tensionrnforces proved to be conservative.