Resistance of Elliptical Hollow Section T-joints Under In-plane Bending Moment

Elliptical Hollow Sections (EHS) have become popular in recent years due to their aesthetic and elegant appearance. Apart from its architectural advantages, it has many advantages in terms of engineering. However, there is no design guide for the design of the joints made of EHS. In the structural applications, equivalent box profile approach is generally used. Since the EHSs have two different diameters, the joint can be formed by four different orientations. Therefore, the equivalent box profile approach may not always yield economic and safe results. The aim of this study is to examine the EHS T-joints in terms of their in-plane bending moment and their failure modes by using the equivalent box profile approach in the current design guides. This study was carried out using the non-linear finite element software ABAQUS v.6-14.1. Before numerical analysis, the finite element model was compared with an existing test. According to the validation results, parameters such as finite element type, material property, mesh size and time step taken in non-linear analyzes were used in parametric studies. A series of parametric analyses were carried out by taking into account the geometrical parameters and orientation types of the main elements. The results of the numerical analysis were compared with the equivalent box method. According to the results of the numerical analysis, it was found that the current method made non-economic predictions. In addition, the type 1 and 2 and type 3 and 4 orientations have similar behavior and strength. Therefore, an economical and safe method has been developed and verified by comparison with numerical models