Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of the Ultimate Strength on Tubular KT-Joints

A nonlinear finite-element analysis of multiplanar circular tubular KT-joints was carried out in this paper,and the behavior of the tubular KT-joints was described.The result showed that there were two failure modes of the joints with the variance of different joint parameters diameter ratio of branch to chord,diameter ratio of another branch to chord,thickness ratio of branch to chord,thickness ratio of another branch to chord and ratio of chord diameter to its thickness.These failure modes were branch failure and chord local buckling failure.Correspondingly,there was no a significant difference for ultimate strength when diameter ratio of branch to chord or thickness ratio of branch to chord varied.The ultimate strength of KT-joints was about 0.75 less than the K-joints.