Research on mechanical behaviour of overlapped CHS-to-SHS welded N-joints

Abstract

An experimental programme and associated parametric analysis of overlapped CHS-to-SHS welded N-joints were carried out. Two partially overlapped CHS-to-SHS welded N-joints were tested to failure under overlapping brace axial compression and chord axial loading. Elastic-plastic large deflection finite element analysis (FEA) of the experimental joints was performed and the FEA results for the failure mode and ultimate capacity are found to be in good agreement with the tests results. A detailed parametric study is subsequently conducted to examine the failure modes and to study the effect of geometric parameters and chord forces on the ultimate bearing capacity of the joints. The analytical results show that there are four possible failure modes of the joint under overlapping brace axial compression. It also reveals that brace-to-chord width ratio, chord width-to-its thickness ratio and brace-to-chord thickness ratio have a large effect on the failure mechanism and ultimate bearing capacity of overlapped CH...