Geometry-conforming solid mesh generation for reliable hot-spot stress extrapolation in tubular joints

Reliable hot-spot stress evaluation of tubular joints requires finite element stresses to be extracted at prescribed locations relative to the weld toe. This study develops an automated geometry-conforming solid-mesh procedure that explicitly constructs the intersection, weld-toe, and code-prescribed A- and B-curves on brace and chord surfaces. These curves are retained as constrained mesh lines so that high-order solid-element nodes coincide directly with the required stress-extrapolation paths, avoiding interpolation from off-curve nodes. Mesh-refinement studies under axial, in-plane bending, and out-of-plane bending loads show smooth stress distributions and stable extrapolated stresses; element-size factors of 0.5–1.0 give differences below 4% relative to the finest mesh. Analyses of T/Y- and K-joints also show overall agreement with DNV-based stress concentration factor predictions. The proposed framework provides an efficient and reproducible basis for automated hot-spot stress evaluation and large-scale parametric analyses of complex tubular joints.