Estimation of stress concentrations in single-sided welds in offshore tubular joints

✍ Scribed by M.M.K Lee

• Book ID: 104288862
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 348 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0142-1123
• DOI: 10.1016/s0142-1123(99)00083-3

✦ Synopsis

Single sided welds commonly used for connecting braces to chords in tubular joints for offshore structures are known to have failed from cracks initiated at the root of the weld. There is currently no common industry standard to assess the fatigue performance of single-sided welds and hence guidelines on this issue are urgently needed. Fatigue assessment of single-sided welds requires knowledge of the stress concentrations in the weld root. The parametric study reported herein investigated the ratio of the maximum internal to maximum external weld SCF, the R ratio, in K-, Y-, X-and T-joints. The study, conducted using three-dimensional solid finite element models, generated a database of internal SCFs for the above joint types under axial, in-plane and out-of-plane bending loadings. Design equations for calculating R for each joint type for various loading modes, developed from multiple regression analyses, are proposed.