An applied technique of nonlinear analysis and the results of a determination of the limit plastic loads for tubular T-joints subjected to compound combined loading are presented. A T-joint is considered as an intersection of cylindrical shells. A numerical nonlinear analysis of the connectors is performed with the use of the method of fi nite elements and shell theory, taking into account geometric nonlinearity in a quadratic approximation, the theory of plastic fl ow, and the iteration procedure of the Newton-Raphson method. A new method based on a maximum criterion of the rate of growth of the relative plastic work is used to determine the limit plastic loads. Graphical results in the form of generalized curves of the limit plastic loads for three different sequences of application of a compound load are presented for a T-joint subjected to the joint action of internal pressure and a bending moment applied to a branch. Keywords: T-joint of pipeline, intersecting cylindrical shells, nonlinear analysis, method of fi nite elements, compound combined loading, criterion for determining the plastic limit load.The use of methods of nonlinear analysis for the purpose of determining limit loads is one of the modern approaches in the design and estimation of the static strength of T-joints [1]. Such approaches are regulated in foreign standards [2-4], though are not in the Russian standards base [5].The basic form of the force action taken into account in the strength analysis of pipelines is the internal excess pressure. Here the loads (external forces and moments acting in individual sections of the structural elements of pipelines) may introduce signifi cant additional stresses in the transition region between the pipes of a T-connector, and this must be taken into account in the design and strength analysis of the connectors of pipelines. A number of studies have been devoted to nonlinear analysis of T-joints of pipelines subjected to the separate action of internal pressure and bending moment [6, 7] and the determination of limit plastic loads in simple (proportional) compound loading [8]. However, sequences of application of internal pressure and both external forces and moments when they act together may differ.One type of estimation of the static strength of T-joints is based on a determination of the limit plastic load that induces signifi cant plastic deformation of a connector with subsequent determination of the admissible load [2][3][4]. Under the effect of a single load, the limit plastic load is calculated with the use of a particular method (criterion), though the factors involved in the selection of the given method have not been determined in the case of compound loading.In the present article, we will consider the application of a newly developed applied technique of nonlinear analysis of structural entities in the form of intersecting shells in the case of combined (nonproportional) loading. A T-joint in a pipeline is represented as a radial connection of intersecting cylindrical shells [6]. Under th...