ABSTRACT
This paper details the experimental investigation and testing of three (3) large-scale overlap square hollow section K-joint specimens with the following joint parameters: 0.6 ≤ β ≤ 0.75; 30 ≤ 2γ ≤ 35 and Ov = 50% and 100%. The experimental results showed for these overlap joints a chord member yield capacity failure due to axial load and bending moment at the joint location. In one specific case for the 100% overlap joint, this failure mode was combined with an overlapped brace ultimate shear failure. Based on this study and earlier reported numerical works it is recommended to improve the design of the overlapped RHS K-joints by checking also against failures due to the overlapped brace shear and local chord yield criterions in addition to the current overlapping brace effective width criterion.
