Static Strength Analysis of a Tubular K- Joint of an Offshore Jacket Structure

Offshore construction is the installation of structures in marine environment for the production and transmission of electricity, oil, gas etc. These structures provide a safe working environment for the people and equipments operating on it. Jacket structure is a type of offshore structure. The substructure of a jacket structure is called a jacket, a three dimensional frame made up of tubular members. In tubular frame the intersection between two members is called tubular connection. So the analysis of various types of tubular joints is relevant for offshore structures. This paper investigates the static strength analysis of tubular K type joint using ANSYS software. Finite element model is created and analysis is done by applying different loading cases. For each loading case, deflection and stresses corresponding to different load values are tabulated. From the maximum stress value, the load at which the joint yielded is obtained. For axial tensile and compressive loading joint yielded at a load of 7KN, for in plane bending and out plane bending, the joint yielded at a moment of 0.38KNm and 0.17KNm respectively. Parametric study is done by changing the chord thickness, analysis is done and maximum stress and deformations are obtained. It is concluded that the, as the thickness increases, the stress values and deformation decreases.