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Abstract

This paper presents a design methodology for equal-width RHS X-joints failing by side wall buckling, with a particular focus on the effect of a compressive chord pre-load. A slenderness parameter is thereby defined based on the elastic local buckling stress of the side wall, idealized as an infinitely long plate under a patch loading transferred from the brace member in combination with a uniform chord pre-load. A Rayleigh-Ritz approximation is used to obtain a closed form solution. The proposed design equation is verified against finite element results over a wide range of wall slenderness values and is demonstrated to yield excellent predictions. Finally, a reliability analysis is performed using the first order reliability method (FORM) within the framework of both the Eurocode and the AISC Specification to ensure the proposed equation possesses the required level of safety. The proposed equation strongly outperforms the current CIDECT design rule for side wall buckling and also further extends the range of applicability to a wall slenderness ratio of up to 50.

DOI

10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.08.019

Publication Date

2016-11-01

Publication Title

Engineering Structures

Volume

126

First Page

689

Last Page

702

ISSN

0141-0296

Organisational Unit

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

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