Case Studies on Finite Element Modeling of Welded Joints

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 take into account. Steel hollow sections are often used. Much research was made on welded nodes so far, but mostly it is valid for limited geometries or load cases. A review of the main aspects in designing welded nodes are given. The second part is about a study of two aspects. The first aim is to investigate the influence of the joint angle on the resistance of a T-joint made out of Circular-Hollow-Sections or Squared-Hollow-Sections under a tensional load. To archive the most realistic results, the second aspect, a numerical study on the finite element types and the element shape functions will be made.