Sidewall Buckling of Equal-Width RHS Truss X-Joints
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper presents a new design methodology for equal-width rectangular hollow section (RHS) X-joints failing by sidewall buckling. In the new approach, a slenderness parameter is defined based on the elastic local buckling stress of the sidewall, idealized as an infinitely long plate under patch loading. A Rayleigh-Ritz approximation is thereby used to obtain a closed-form solution. The proposed design equation is verified against experimental results over a wide range of wall slenderness values obtained from the literature and complemented by a brief experimental program carried out by the authors. It is demonstrated that the new design equation yields excellent results against the experimental data. Finally, a reliability analysis is performed within the framework of both the Eurocode and the AISI standards to ensure that the proposed design equation possesses the required level of safety. The newly proposed equation strongly outperforms the current Comité International pour le Développement et l’Etude de la Construction Tubulaire (CIDECT) design rule for sidewall buckling and also further extends the range of applicability to a wall slenderness ratio of up to 50.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 2, 2016
Accepted: Aug 4, 2016
Published online: Sep 23, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 23, 2017
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