Hagar El Bamby

Hagar continues her master's research on the tensile behaviour of mild and high strength steel welded RHS X-joints. Experimental tests are conducted on a total of 18 X-joint made of steel grade S355, S500 and S700 are tested. The experiments are supported by a preliminary numerical simulations to supplement the test data. In addition to the investigation of the tensile behaviour of the X-joints, the applicability of the material reduction factors introduced in the design strength equations of HSS joints in EN1993-1-8:2020 for steel grades of S355, S500 and S700 is evaluated. It is worthy to note that these factors are developed based on a limited number of experiments. Previous research investigations have revealed that the reduction factors prescribed EN-1993-1-8:2020 for steels up to 700 might be too conservative. Therefore, in this research the suitability of these factors are evaluated.

Parallel with the full-scale joint experiments, experimental tests on material level are carried out on butt-welded coupon specimens to investigate the tensile behaviour of butt-welded joints made of steel grade S355, S500, and S700. From the test results, the post-weld strength of the butt-welded specimens and the material properties of the weld and the HAZ are obtained. These properties are used in the numerical simulation of the RHS-X-joints to accurately predict the tensile behaviour of the X-joints.