Stress concentration factors induced by out-of-plane bending loads in ring-stiffened tubular KT-joints of jacket structures

摘要

In the present paper, data extracted from the finite element analysis of 118 models, which were validated against the test results obtained from an experimental study, were used to investigate the geometrical effect on the weld-toe stress concentration factors (SCFs) in internally ring-stiffened tubular KT-joints subjected to four different types of out-of-plane bending (OPB) loads. Although the tubular KT-joints are commonly found in offshore jacket structures and despite the crucial role of SCFs in the evaluation of the tubular joint's fatigue performance, the SCFs in internally ring-stiffened KT-joints subjected to OPB loads have not been investigated so far and no design equation is available to determine the SCFs for OPB-loaded joints of this type. In the present research, geometrically parametric study was followed by the nonlinear regression analysis to develop a new set of SCF parametric formulas for the fatigue design of ring-stiffened KT-joints under the OPB loadings. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.