Investigation on load-bearing capacity improvement coefficient of CFRP-reinforced CHS KT-joints

Wang, Tiantian; Tong, Lewei; Gao, Feng; Xu, Xiaoming; Shi, Weizhou; Pandey, Madhup; Wang, Fangying

Abstract

This study numerically analyses the load-bearing capacity of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthened circular hollow section (CHS) multiplanar KT-joints based on experiments. Compared to unreinforced joints, the load-bearing capacity improvement coefficient k was proposed and investigated. First, the experiments on bare and CFRP-reinforced CHS KT-joints were briefly described. Three-dimensional numerical models were then established for bare and CFRP-strengthened CHS KT-joints. Refined and simplified CFRP models were established. The effectiveness of the simplified CFRP model was validated by comparing it with experimental results. To improve computational efficiency, the contact between CFRP and steel tubes was optimised by the combination of surface-based cohesive behaviour and tie. A parametric study was carried out to analyse the effect of 20 independent parameters on k. We found that k is primarily influenced by non-dimensional geometric parameters, load of brace-T, number of CFRP layers, and CFRP properties. Parametric formulae for k were established through nonlinear regression analysis. The proposed parametric formulae agree well with numerical analysis and experimental results.

Citation

Wang, T., Tong, L., Gao, F., Xu, X., Shi, W., Pandey, M., & Wang, F. (2024). Investigation on load-bearing capacity improvement coefficient of CFRP-reinforced CHS KT-joints. Thin-Walled Structures, 205(Part A), Article 112455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2024.112455

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-12
• Deposit Date: Dec 5, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2025
• Journal: Thin-Walled Structures
• Print ISSN: 0263-8231
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-3223
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 205
• Issue: Part A
• Article Number: 112455
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2024.112455
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/40002389
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263823124008966?via%3Dihub