Resistance of T- and K-joints to tubular members at elevated temperatures

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ultimate capacity of welded steel tubular joints at elevated temperatures. Finite Element (FE) simulations of axially loaded tubular T- and non-overlapped K-joints at different elevated temperatures have been carried out using the commercial finite element software ABAQUS v6.10-1. Extensive numerical simulations have been conducted on CHS T- and gap K-joints subjected to brace axial compression or tension, considering a wide range of geometrical parameters. FE simulation results have been compared with the predictions by the CIDECT equations(CIDECT, 2010). It is found that this method overestimates the ultimate load carrying capacity of axially loaded CHS T-joints due to increased tubular wall deformation. For K-joints, this effect is negligible, therefore, the CIDECT equations produces accurate results