Some developments in tubular joint research

Publisher Summary The chapter reviews some of the research recently carried out on hollow section joints, for example, rectangular hollow section (RHS)-overlap joints, circular hollow section (CHS)-joints with thick-walled chords, the influence of chord stress on the joint strength, and the effect of stiffening by collar and doubler plates on the strength of thin-walled joints. Some other research is also discussed, and references are presented in the chapter. The influence of chord stress on the joint strength of circular hollow sections is currently based on the so-called chord pre-load, that is, the chord load minus the load that reacts with the brace load components. This is in contradiction with rectangular hollow section joints for which the chord load function is based on the maximum chord load. In modem bridges and jack-up platform designs, very thick-walled hollow sections are more used, sometimes in combination with cast steel nodes. As a consequence, several investigations regarding the static behavior of welded thick-walled joints have been carried out.