Investigation on cfrp strengthened tubular joints subjected to axial compression and bending

Abstract

Tubular joints are widely used in the construction of offshore structures and have newlineto withstand different types of environmental loads which are dynamic in nature. newlineHence, the design of joints and to strengthen these joints from failure is newlinesignificant. Various strengthening techniques used in the offshore industry include newlinereinforcing with stiffeners, adding gusset plates or filling grout into the tubular newlinejoint. The present methods used for strengthening the tubular joints have some newlinedrawbacks. There is a difficulty in placing on an existing tubular joint and causes newlinecorrosion which can lead to fatigue. To overcome these drawbacks, a new newlinestrengthening technique needs to be developed. This research work focuses on a newlinenew strengthening technique using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) newlinecomposites wrapped onto a tubular joint. newlineThis work investigates the performance of CFRP strengthened T and Y joints newlinesubjected to axial compression, in-plane and out-of-plane bending. A preliminary newlineinvestigation was needed to determine the dimensions and ultimate load of the newlinetubular joint using a numerical tool - APDL (ANSYS parametric design newlinelanguage). Size of tubular joint was scaled down to suite the laboratory setup and newlinewas designed to satisfy the geometric parameters based on the recommendations newlineof American Petroleum Institute (API) code. American society for testing and newlinematerials (ASTM), A106 Gr. B steel was used to fabricate the tubular joint. newlineNumerical and experimental investigations were performed on reference and newlineCFRP strengthened joints to study the joint capacity and performance. Various newlineparameters of interest studied were its ultimate load, ovalization and chord surface newlinedisplacement. newline