Stress Distribution and Stress Construction Factors of Welded Planer Tubular Joints Under Plane Moment Loading
The stress distribution along the weld toe is very critical for the prediction of the fatigue life of offshore structures tubular joints, because the location of the hot spot stress along the weld toe affects the crack initiation. The conventional method for determining the hot spot stress of a tubular joint subjected to a practical loading condition, is the product of the nominal stress due to this simple load type and the corresponding stress concentration factors. A study is presented of the stress distribution as well as stress concentration factors in tubular K-joints which commonly used in offshore platform structures. In this study, finite element method is used to model tubular K-joints under in-plane moment loadings. A range of geometric joint parameters was selected to model K joints. Along intersection tip, a well-graded finite mesh is generated to get the stress concentration factor. The results of the finite element were first used to assess two sets of commonly used parametric equations, which predict the maximum stress concentration factors on the outer surfaces of the chord. They were then employed to modify existing parametric equation for the predicting stress concentration factors. There is good agreement between finite element and modified parametric equation results.