The influence of materials on the behaviour of joints with multiple bar connections

Abstract

Joints made out of tubular steel members are often used in industrial constructions, like offshore, trusses or tree-shaped columns. The joint area is the weakest point in a truss structure. Beside the normal static behaviour many non-linearities due to the geometry or to the welding process have to be taken into account. Steel hollow sections are often used. Much research was made on welded nodes so far. To increase the resistance of a joint it is an option to vary the material choice. Many variations were tested in the past. It is possible to change the overall material of a joint or using composite structures, like a concrete filled column. Or the steel of the welding line can get an additional material component. Another aspect is to reinforce the joint for example by a stiffened ring. In this paper a state-of-the-art review of the influence of different materials to the resistance of welded nodes is given.