Bending capacity of girth-welded circular steel tubes

In this paper, the buckling behavior of girth-welded circular steel tubes subjected to bending was investigated by numerical method. Finite element (FE) simulation of the girth welding process was first performed to obtain weld-induced residual stress and deformation employing sequentially coupled three-dimensional (3-D) thermo-mechanical FE formulation. Elastoplastic large-deformation analysis in which the failure mode, the ultimate moment capacity and the moment versus end-rotation behavior of girth-welded circular steel tubes under pure bending were explored incorporating weld-induced geometric imperfection and residual stress was next carried out. Results showed that the flexural behavior of girth-welded circular steel tubes always involves local buckling near the girth weld on the compression side, which significantly affects the moment versus end-rotation response.

► The buckling behavior of girth-welded steel tubes in bending was investigated.
► The flexural behavior always involves local buckling near the girth weld.
► The local buckling alters the nature of the moment versus end-rotation response.