Numerical investigation of stress characteristics of a unilateral SHS T-joint under slamming loads

Unilateral square hollow section (SHS) joints are increasingly applied owing to the development of offshore wind energy generation and offshore aquaculture. Previous research on SHS joints has primarily been limited to joints subjected to static and quasi-static loads. This study is to elucidate the stress characteristics of a unilateral SHS T-joint under slamming loads using the Structured Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method. The results revealed that, at the saddle, the values of the stress concentration factor under slamming loads (SCFS) exhibit mean values and standard deviations of 3.82 and 0.067 for different impact velocities, 3.66 and 0.38 for different half chord width-to-thickness ratios, 3.78 and 0.18 for different brace-to-chord thickness ratios, 3.68 and 0.13 for different brace length-to-width ratios, 3.54 and 0.28 for different brace-to-chord width ratios, respectively. This study provides useful guidance for the design of offshore structures subjected to slamming loads.