Numerical methodology for analyses of tubular KK multiplanar steel joints

Abstract

Herein is presented a numerical methodology for a static resistance analysis of symmetrically loaded multiplanar KK joints in circular hollow steel sections. This methodology addresses factors related to the simulation of KK joints such as the material properties, the boundary conditions, mesh generation and refinement, incremental load steps and failure criteria. An objective criterion is proposed to identify the two failure modes most often occurring in KK joints. Failure mode 1 is observed when two neighboring diagonal braces loaded in the same sense act as one brace penetrating the chord together. In the failure mode 2, excessive deformation is observed in the chord region between two neighboring braces, folding the chord wall. However, in some cases the failure mode is not easily identified or both failure types are present. The proposed criterion objectively identifies the failure mode. In order to compute the joint resistance, an important failure criterion often adopted in literature for uniplanar K joints is the one known as Lu's deformation. In this paper, a strategy is proposed, which is an extension of Lu's criterion for multiplanar KK joints.