Experimental and numerical studies on SCFs of SHS T-Joints subjected to static out-of-plane bending

An experimental and a numerical study on thin-walled welded tubular square hollow section (SHS) T-joints were performed. Six SHS-SHS T-joints made up of SHS brace and SHS chord members were tested experimentally under static out-of-plane bending loads. A subsequent numerical study was carried out. Strain gauges were attached on each specimen to determine the strain concentration factors (SNCFs) and stress concentration factors (SCFs). The SCFs were determined at the potential hot spot locations. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) T-joint models identical to the tested experimental T-joint specimens were developed using ABAQUS software in order to capture the distribution of the stresses and determine the SCFs at the weld toes. The purpose of the numerical study is to compare and validate the numerical SCFs with the experimental SCFs. There is a good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental results. CIDECT Design Guide 8 (Zhao et al. [1]) does not provide SCF formulas and graphs for predicting the SCFs for SHS-SHS T-joints under out-of-plane bending. Therefore, the experimental and numerical studies carried out will assist with the development of fatigue design rules of steel T-joints with thin-walled SHSs. Graphs have been developed for estimating the SCFs of SHS-SHS T-joint connections under out-of-plane bending.