ABSTRACT
Rectangular hollow sections are used in various steel structures, many times with multiplanar configurations. In engineering practice, different types of welds are used for the connections. In order to establish a sound basis for numerical investigations, this paper addresses the numerical research on the static strength of RHS X- and T-joints by using different types of welds. Uniplanar X- and T-joints are considered which are loaded with the brace in compression. Three types of weld conditions are used for the investigation, namely fillet weld, butt weld and without weld modelling. For each type of weld, several joint geometry parameters are investigated. The influence of the types of welds is shown to be considerable. Finally, the numerical results at various deformation criteria are compared with existing analytical formula.
