ssc-367 - Ship Structure Committee

Braces may have stubs or cones, which are the part of the brace
member welded to the chord. Typically,both the stubs and the cones
are thicker than the brace members.
To facilitatethe developmentand use of empiricalequationsseveral
parametersare used in definingthe characteristicsof a joint. The
chord diameter and thickness are referred to as D and T
respectively. The brace or stub diameterand thicknessare referred
to as d andt. The angle from the chord to the brace is defined as
theta 0. The ratio of the brace diameter to chord diameter is
defined as beta, B. The ratio of chord radius to chord thickness is
defined as gamma, y. The ratio of brace thickness to chord
thickness is defined as tau, ~. The empirical equations used to
determine SCFS utilize the parameters . The (3,~, y, T. The
terminologyused in defining a simple joint is shown in Figure 5-7.
Joint Type and Classification
Joints are classified intotypes based on geometry and loading. The
joint type usually looks like the letter formed from the brace and
chord intersection. Four basic joint types exist in offshore
structures:
1) T or Y joint
2) K joint
3) KT joint
4) X joint
Figure 5-8 shows the four common joint types.
Although the joint type usually looks like the letter formed from
the brace and chord intersection,the joint is actually classified
according to load distribution. If the axial load is transferred
between the brace and chord by shear, then the joint is classified
as a T or Y joint. If the load is transferredbetween the braces at
a joint, without traveling through the joint, then the joint is
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