Research On Static Behavior Of Full-width T-type Rhs Joint With Chord Side Plate Reinforcement

T-type joints are widely used in all kinds of structure with its better performance ofa simple shape, clear load transfer, high bearing capacity and construction convenience.Currently, that domestic and foreign research on unstiffened tubular joints iscomparatively mature, but specification for joints stiffened with chord side platereinforcement has no specific principle, it is obvious that the application anddevelopment of stiffened joints were limited.This paper will focus on T-type RHS joint with its chord side plate reinforcement,both experimental method and finite analysis method (FEM) will be used in theanalytic work. The research work of this paper mainly focuses on three parts in thefollowing:(1)15full-width and stepped(β=0.9) T-type RHS joints specimens with differentparameters will be tested with brace axial force on the Hydraulic Press，by observingthe experimental phenomenon, it showed that different type of joints may cause allkinds of failure modes. By sorting kinds of factors in the experiment, the followingconclusions were drew: reinforce the chord side plate reasonably will increase ultimatebearing capacity of the joint, the brace-to-chord width ratio β and the shape of sideplate has very influence on the failure mode of joint.(2) Numerical analysis will be conduct for the experiment joints, in this part. Inaddition to the geometric nonlinearity and material nonlinearity, a concept of contactnonlinear was adopted. Considering different experiment results, different numericalmodels were built in ANSYS, with the calculation results comparing with those of test,verifying the feasibility of contact nonlinearity analysis in tubular joint theoriticalresearch.(3) Conducting parametric study with136unstiffened full-width T-type joints and150stiffened joints, to investigate the effects of certain parameters on the staticbehavior of the joints. Analytic results indicate that dimensions of the side plate haveeffects on static behavior of full-width T-type joint. And the influence of the thicknessof the side plate is the most obvious, while the length of the plate influences slightely.It is worthy paying attention to the influence of the side plate width on the full-widthT-tyep joint joint with chord side plate reinforcement. Owing to the special structure ofthe full-width T-type joint, it is advised that the plate width should be eaqul to chordweb height.