ABSTRACT
There are various fatigue design guidelines that are used around the world for the design of tubular structures. The standards for fatigue design used in North America include the American Petroleum Institute’s recommended practice (API 2005) and the American Welding Society’s structural steel welding code (AWS 1996). These fatigue design standards recommend the use of both the classification method and the hot spot stress method. Eurocode 3 (EC3) Part 1.9 contains the recommendations for fatigue design of tubular connections from the European Committee for Standardization (CEN 2003). The design rules in EC3 also use both the classification and the hot spot stress method. British standards such as the Department of Energy guideline (Department of Energy 1990) and BSI 7608-1993 (BSI 1993), are also used for fatigue design of tubular structures. The Department of Energy guideline uses the hot spot stress method for the design of tubular nodal joints whereas BSI 7608-1993 uses the classification method. Fatigue design of tubular structures in Australia is covered in AS4100-1998 (SAA 1998) using the classification method. These recommendations are similar to those in EC3.
