PROCEEDINGS OF THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TUBULAR

STRUCTURES, 18 – 20 SEPTEMBER 2003, MADRID, SPAIN

Tubular Structures X
Jaurrieta, M.A., Alonso, A., Chica, J.A. (Eds.)

Welded circular hollow section (CHS)

joints in bridges

Ulrike Kuhlmann
Hans-Peter Günther
Reiner Saul
Marc-Ulrich Häderle

A.A. BALKEMA PUBLISHERS LISSE / ABINGDON / EXTON (PA) / TOKYO

Welded circular hollow section (CHS) joints in bridges
U. Kuhlmann & H.-P. Günther
Institute of Structural Design, University of Stuttgart, Germany

R. Saul & M.-U. Häderle

Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner, Consulting Office, Stuttgart, Germany

ABSTRACT: The use of circular hollow section members in bridge design is a relatively new concept. The
application of such constructions is strongly influenced by the design and manufacturing of the joints. In gen-
eral, there are two possibilities: either to use cast steel joints or welded joints.
This contribution tries to give an overview about the advantages and disadvantages of both possibilities con-
cerning the aspects of resistance, fatigue, manufacturing and economy in order to help practical engineers in
their decisions and to allow for a further application of circular hollow sections in bridge design.
As a crucial question, special considerations are given to the fatigue assessment of welded circular hollow
section joints. For an example of a recently completed bridge with a typical spatial CHS truss and cast steel
joints it has been shown that also welded connections would have been a possible alternative. This conclusion
is drawn from numerical studies based on FE calculations applying the hot-spot stress approach for the fatigue
assessment of the welded joints.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 CHS IN BRIDGE DESIGN

Spatial truss girders built up with tubular members 2.1 General
are more and more used in modern bridge design due
The use of circular hollow section members as part
to their architectural transparent appearance. Most
of the main load-carrying structure of bridge girders
important for the design and durability of such
is a relatively new constructional concept. During
structures is the design and the construction of the
the last couple years several steel-concrete compo-
joints.
site bridges had been constructed, see Table 1. The
The recently in Germany completed highway
typical cross-section of this type of bridge generally
bridge “Korntal-Münchingen” design by Leon-
consists of a tubular spatial truss girder carrying the
hardt, Andrä und Partner was constructed using cast
concrete deck slab (Figure 1). The deck slab is con-
steel joints at the intersection of the tubular mem-
nected directly to the steel structure by either shear
bers. However, during the design process of this
studs, concrete dowels or in some cases where no
bridge, several proposals suggested the use of cost-
top chord exist, as e.g. at the “Nesenbachtal” bridge
effective welded joints. Due to some lack of infor-
by saw-tooth connections, see Schlaich et. al. (2000).
mation, mainly concerning the durability and fatigue
behaviour of this kind of joint and due to some posi-
tive experience with cast steel in former CHS
bridges, the relevant highway authority finally de-
cided to use cast steel joints.
This was the starting point for intensive numeri-
cal investigations in order to clarify whether for this
specific type of bridge welded joints would have
been a possible alternative, see also Kuhlmann et. al.
(2002).

Figure 1. Cross-section of the bridge “Korntal-Münchingen”

 At the bottom chord of the tubular space truss
four brace members have to be connected to the
continuous bottom chord. This type of joint is usu-
ally named KK-joint (Figure 2).
Table 1 summarizes the dimensions of five CHS
highway bridges recently built in Switzerland (CH)
and Germany (D), as well as their joint characteris-
tics. The table clearly indicates that all five bridges
resemble each other concerning their overall global
and local dimensions.
3.1.2 Structural Behaviour
The casting process allows almost perfectly mod-
eling of the joint according to the flow of internal
forces, avoiding large stress concentrations. The cast
joints are usually designed in such a way, that the
load bearing capacity of the joint is higher than that
of the attached tubular sections. This is generally
done using three-dimensional FE calculations.
During the design of the cast joints one should
also consider some special features regarding the
casting process. Large differences of the wall thick-
ness for example, significantly influence the solidifi-
cation and shrinkage process of the melt and may
lead to unintentional internal blowholes and micro
cracks. In order to avoid this, solidification simula-
tion calculations may help to get the cast free from
blowholes and to find the optimal feeder head posi-
tion for fabrication.

Figure 2. Typical multiplanar KK-joint with notations
3 JOINT CONSTRUCTION
3.1 Cast Steel Joints
3.1.1 Material Properties
Through the ongoing development within the
manufacturing of cast steel products it is possible
nowadays to gain almost the same mechanical and
chemical qualities in terms of strength, toughness,
weldability and corrosion resistance as for ordinary
rolled steel products, see e.g. Schober (2001) or
Mang & Herion (2001).
3.1.3 Fatigue
The smooth shape of the cast joint according to
the flow of internal forces results in only small stress
concentrations, thus making cast steel joints in par-
ticular advantageous for structures subjected to re-
peated loading. The critical part in terms of fatigue
are the welds between the cast steel joint and the tu-
bular steel members. Concerning the fatigue behav-
iour of this type of connection, there are only few in-
vestigations documented, some associated with the
“Humbolthafen” bridge in Berlin, see Seifried et. al.
(1999). Based on experimental investigations on
small and large scale test specimens, the fatigue re-
sistance could be classified to detail category 71, ac-
cording to Eurocode 3 Part 1.9 (2002), similar to a
butt welded end-to-end connection of CHS mem-
bers.
3.1.4 Manufacturing and Quality Assurance
The manufacturing of cast joints is quite expen-
sive due to the high costs preparing the cast form-

Table 1. Summary of recently built CHS bridges and joint characteristics

Lully1) Dättwill2) Aarwangen2) Nesenbachtal Korntal-Münch.

(CH) (CH) (CH) (D) (D)
year of completion 1997 2001 1997 1999 2002
span length ≈ 43 m ≈ 38 m ≈ 48m 25 / 50 / 36 m 32 / 41 m
h/L of steel truss 1 / 14 1 / 12 1 / 27 1 / 11-22 1 / 13
type of joint construction welded welded welded cast steel cast steel
joint type KK KK K KK KK
brace dimensions 267 / 25 267 / 25 194 / 28 194 / 10-60 267 / 28-45
chord dimensions 508 / 36 508 / 50 406 / 36 324 / 16-80 457 / 45-67
joint parameters
β = d1/d0 0.53 0.53 0.48 0.60 0.58
γ = d0/2t0 7.06 5.08 5.64 10.13-2.03 5.07-3.51
τ = t1/t0 0.69 0.50 0.78 0.63-0.75 0.62-0.69
Θ ; cos(Θ) 60 ; 0.5 60 ; 0.5 45 ; 0.71 46 ; 0.69 60 ; 0.5
φ 69 69 -- 102 90
1) 2)
according to Dauner (1998) according to Schumacher, Nussbaumer & Hirt (2001)
work. Usually, additional machining of the connec-
tion device is required in order to fulfill the small
tolerances for a precise fitting of the tubular sections.
The quality assurance has to be guaranteed for
both, the welded connection between the cast joint
and the tubular sections and the cast steel material it-
self. In Germany, non-destructive quality control
usually is performed by ultrasonic devices in accor-
dance with DIN 1690 (1991).
3.1.5 Economic Efficiency
The economic efficiency using cast steel joints is
very dependent on the manufacturing of the cast
formwork. If the design of the bridge allows the use
of a large number of equal joints, a high cost effec-
tiveness can be achieved by reducing the cost for the
formwork in relation to the single joint. Depending
on the number of equal joints and the complexity of
the joints the price varies between 3000 € and
6000 € per ton cast steel.
3.2 Welded Steel Joints
3.2.1 Structural Behaviour
The forces between the members are directly
transmitted through the welds, leading to a very
complex and multidimensional stress situation with
high local stress concentrations.
Over the past 30 years a considerable amount of
research work on CHS joints has been driven for-
ward by the petroleum industry concerning the de-
sign of offshore-structures. Most of this research is
published by CIDECT (Comité International pour le
Développement et l’Étude de la Construction Tubu-
laire).
CIDECT Serial No. 1 (1991) includes guidelines,
charts and provides parametric formulas for the design
of welded CHS joints that are subjected to predomi-
nately static loading. Thus, allowing a quick and easy
design of such joints, without time-consuming FE
calculations.
3.2.2 Fatigue
Welded CHS joints are very sensitive to fatigue
because the geometric discontinuities of the welds
lead to a high stress concentration. Under static
loading, these stress concentrations are less impor-
tant due to local plastification. However, under re-
Table 2. Construction detail and detail category of a uniplanar CHS K-joint with gap according to Eurocode 3 Part 1.9 (2002)
Detail Category Constructural detail
90 t0
≥ 2 .0
m=5 t1
45 t0
= 1 .0
m=5 t1
peated loading the high stress concentrations may
lead to a premature fatigue failure. Thus, the design
of welded CHS joints, particular for bridge struc-
tures is very much influenced by their fatigue be-
haviour.
CIDECT Serial No. 8 (2000) deals with the fatigue
behaviour of welded joints under repeated loading and
includes guidelines, charts and provides parametric
formulas for the design of welded CHS joints.
3.2.3 Manufacturing and Quality Assurance
In order to ensure an optimal fitting of the diago-
nal brace members onto the continuous chord at the
very complicated intersection area a precise cutting
of the tubular members is required. Nowadays com-
puter-operated profile cutting machines allow for an
efficient and very precise cutting process.
The welding is mainly manual. For a reliable
quality inspection of the welds, especially the critical
weld root, the geometrical dimensions of the joint
should be designed in a way that enough space for
inspection devices is guaranteed.
3.2.4 Economic Efficiency
As the chord member normally is continuous at
the joint and only the diagonal braces are to be
welded to the chord, the number of welded connec-
tions is reduced in comparison to cast steel joints
leading to decisive savings. However, some of the
savings are compensated by the more costly welding
procedures.
As a conclusion: for simple and standardized joint
types such as e.g. T-, X-, K- or KK-joints with easy
to reach weld positions, welded joints form the more
economic solution. Additionally, as the whole steel
construction is manufactured within only one com-
pany there are also logistic and organizational ad-
vantages.
4 FATIGUE ASSESSMENT OF CHS JOINTS
4.1 General; S-N Concept
Fatigue assessment procedures are usually based on
S-N curves which relate a nominal or geometric
stress range S to the corresponding number N of load
cycles to fatigue failure.
Description
- for intermediate values of the
ratio t0/t1 interpolate linearly
between detail categories
- t0 and t1 ≤ 12.5 mm
- 35°≤ Θ ≤ 50°
- d0 /t0 ≤ 25
4.2 Nominal Stress Method
In this case fatigue assessment refers to the nomi-
nal stress range ∆σnom in a structural member.
The fatigue resistance is given according to a
classification catalogue in the form of standardized
S-N curves. Structural details classified in this cata-
logue, see e.g. Eurocode 3 Part 1.9 (2002), corre-
spond to a specific situation of stress range, direc-
tion, crack position, detail dimension and weld
quality which had been characteristic for the tests on
which the classification is based.
Thus, the application of this method is limited in
some extend to the geometrical dimensions or the
loading conditions of the classified structural details.
Table 2, for example gives the detail category of
uniplanar CHS K-joints with gap depending on the
relation of the corresponding wall thickness ratio
t0/t1. In this special case, the range of application is
limited to a wall thickness of t0 and t1 ≤ 12.5 mm
and therefore impossible to use for bridge structures.
4.3 Hot-Spot Stress Method
The hot-spot stress method also named geometric
stress method has been developed for unclassified
details and for details where a clear definition of the
nominal stress, e.g. due to geometric discontinuities
is not possible. The hot-spot stress is defined as the
maximum geometric stress occurring at the spots
where cracks usually tend to initiate. It characterizes
a fictitious measured or calculated stress at the criti-
cal section (hot-spot) that is extrapolated to the weld
toe, from two or three points at certain distances
from the weld toe, see Figure 3.
For design, the hot-spot stress is usually calcu-
lated by multiplying the nominal stress σnom by the
so-called stress concentration factor (SCF) for the
appropriate structural discontinuity, see equation (1).
σ hs = SCF ⋅ σ nom
Figure 3. Definition and extrapolation region of the hot-spot
stress σhs
In general, the hot-spot stress respectively the
stress concentration factor is determined by testing
and/or FE analysis. For typical CHS joints CIDECT
Serial No. 8 (2000) includes formulae and charts de-
pending on the geometric dimensions, for the
evaluation of SCF values.
Similar to the nominal stress method the hot-spot
method uses Shs-N curves for the fatigue resistance,
where Shs is the hot-spot stress range.
The advantage of the hot-spot stress method is the
possibility of predicting the fatigue lives of many
different types of joint configuration using only one
single Shs-N curve.
5 STRESS CONCENTRATION FACTORS OF
WELDED CHS BRIDGE JOINTS
5.1 Bridge “Korntal-Münchingen”
The bridge is located about 30 km north east of
Stuttgart nearby the small city of Korntal-
Münchingen and was opened for traffic in October
2002.
The total length of the bridge is about 300 m. The
main middle part of the bridge consists of a tubular
space truss (Figure 1 and 4) approximately 2.9 m in
depth and 4.6 m in width. Piers are typically spaced
between 32 m and 41 m. The diameter of the hot-
rolled CHS members were chosen to be 267 mm for
the braces and 457 mm for the chords. The wall
thickness of the CHS members varies in order to
achieve the necessary strength and stiffness. The
maximum wall thickness of the chord is 65 mm and
was needed at one of the inner-supports.
Although the joints where built in cast steel, these
typical dimensions of the bridge structure and the
joint geometry were used as an example to clarify
whether for this bridge welded joints would have
been a possible alternative.
(1)
Figure 4. Spatial CHS framework of the bridge Korntal-
Münchingen
5.2 Finite Element Analysis
5.2.1 General
For the given CHS joint geometry it is not possi-
ble to verify the fatigue resistance according to the
hot-spot approach as recommended in CIDECT Se-
rial No. 8 (2000). The reasons are as follows:
- the parameter range of the given SCF formulas and
charts is limited to 12 ≤ γ ≤ 24 and 0,3 ≤ β ≤ cos(θ).
These conditions are not fulfilled for almost every
CHS bridge according to Table 1,
- the SCF formulas are restricted to CHS KK-joints
with gap but without any eccentricity and
- the Shs-N curves are limited to a wall thickness
smaller than t = 50 mm.
To overcome these restrictions a detailed FE analysis
has been performed, determining the critical hot-spot Figure 6. Applied loading and boundary conditions
stresses at the joint intersections, Stuba (2002). The
hot-spot stresses respectively SCF values were de- 5.2.3 Stress Concentration Factors (SCF)
termined in accordance to CIDECT Serial No. 8 The stress concentrations factors (SCF) were de-
(2000) and Niemi (1992) using the FE package AN- termined using the quadratic extrapolations method.
SYS. Figure 5 shows the three-dimensional FE Studies by Romeijn (1994) have shown that for CHS
model of the KK-joint. Geometrical symmetries joints this method gives satisfying results.
have not been taken into account. 20-node solid In circumferential direction the tubular sections
elements with an 3x3x3 integration scheme were have been divided into 36 elements/nodes resulting
used. Various mesh densities were investigated and in altogether 36 x 4 x 2 = 288 SCF values for one
compared in order to ensure enough convergence of joint and one loading condition.
the stresses in the vicinity of the weld toe. Since no experimental results have been avail-
able, the numerical FE results of test calculations
were compared to the values given in CIDECT Se-
rial No. 8 (2000), leading to an acceptable difference
less than 5%.
The location of maximum stress concentration
(hot-spot) always appeared in the brace near the sad-
dle. Figure 8 shows the variation of the SCF value
along the circumferential direction of the brace in
case of axial balanced brace loading. Figure 7 re-
flects the corresponding von Mises stress pattern at
the surface. The maximum SCF value appears in the
brace at node number 22.

Figure 5. FE model of the multiplanar CHS KK-joint using

20-node elements

5.2.2 Loading and boundary conditions

The loads were introduced as unit loads. Two dif-
ferent axial loading conditions have been investi-
gated:
- pure axial balanced brace loading and
- pure chord loading, see Figure 6.
Additional studies showed that in case of in-plane
bending the maximum SCF values are somewhat
below those of the axial loading condition. Therefore
it can be concluded that the axial loading sufficiently Figure 7. FE-results, von Mises stress pattern in case of axially
covers also in-plane bending. loaded brace
 4.5 4.5

3.0 3.0

1.5 1.5

0.0 0.0
1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36
node number node number
Figure 8. Stress concentration factor (SCF) in circumferential foot length tw = 0 foot length tw > 0
direction of the brace, brace loading
Figure 10. Influence of the weld shape on the stress concentra-
5.2.4 Influence of Weld Shape tion factor (SCF)
For critical connections in terms of fatigue and
where the wall thickness is large, full penetration
6 FATIGUE VERIFICATION OF THE KK-JOINT
welds should be used. However, a realistic modeling
of the weld shape in circumferential direction is a 6.1 General
very complex task, because of the ever-changing an-
In order to clarify the feasibility of welded joints
gle Ψ between the surface of the chord and the di-
for the bridge “Korntal-Münchingen”, the fatigue
agonal braces that have to be joined, see figure 9.
verification was performed according to Eurocode 3
Especially in the “heel” zone of the connection with
Part 2 –Steel bridges– (1997) and the hot-spot fa-
a small intersection angle full penetration is difficult
tigue design method recommended for hollow sec-
and leads to a much higher throat thickness com-
tion joints in CIDECT Serial No. 8 (2000).
pared to the “crown” zone. Two different weld
Three different joints of the aforementioned tri-
shapes have been considered:
angular truss girder were selected. These joints differ
- a full penetration weld with a weld foot length
regarding their wall thickness t0 and t1 and loading
tw = 0 (butt weld) and
condition because of their different positions in lon-
- a full penetration butt weld with a constant weld
gitudinal direction of the bridge girder. Table 3
foot length tw, see figure 9.
summarizes the joint dimensions and parameters.
Figure 10 shows the influence of the these different
types of weld shapes on the stress concentration 6.2 Stress Range
factor. The consideration of an additional foot length
Fatigue load model 3 (FLM 3) of Eurocode 3
tw leads to a reduction of the SCF of about 10 to
Part 2 (1997) was used to determine the nominal
15%.
stress ranges in the corresponding tubular members.
FLM 3 consists of a single 4-axle vehicle truck with
axle loads of 120 kN.
According to Eurocode 3 Part 2 (1997) the re-
sulting stress range is transformed into the damage
equivalent stress rang ∆σE,2 related to 2·106 cycles in
order to make it comparable to the fatigue strength
∆σC. This is realized by the so-called damage
equivalent factors λi, see equation (2). These factors
depend on fatigue relevant parameters as e.g. the
traffic volume, the design life of the bridge or the
Table 3. Joint dimensions and parameters
joint 1 joint 2 joint 3
do 457 457 457
t0 65 55 45
d1 267 267 267
t1 45 36 28
g 79.0 65.5 52.8
β = d1/d0 0.58 0.58 0.58
Figure 9. Different weld shapes
γ = d0/2t0 3.52 4.15 5.07
τ = t1/t0 0.69 0.65 0.62
Θ 60 60 60
φ 90 90 90
shape of the influence line. Table 4 summarizes the
values applied as they are given in Eurocode 3.
∆σ E , 2 = λ 1 ⋅ λ 2 ⋅ λ 3 ⋅ λ 4 ⋅ ∆σ nom (2)
6.3 Fatigue Verification
Using the hot-spot method, the fatigue limit state
can be verified using equation (3):
γ Ff ⋅ SCF ⋅ ∆σ E , 2 ≤ ∆σ C.hs γ Mf (3)
Where γFf and γMf are the partial safety factors for
the fatigue limit state, ∆σC.hs is the characteristic
value of the fatigue strength against hot-spot stresses
for 2·106 number of cycles and SCF is the stress
concentration factor.
The safety factors were chosen to γFf = 1.0 and
γMf = 1.15.
Values for the fatigue resistance ∆σC.hs for CHS
section joints are given in CIDECT Serial No. 8
(2000) by the following formula:
∆σ C.hs = 1 3 ⋅ (12.476 − log( N f ) )
(4)
+ 0.06 ⋅ log( N f ) ⋅ log(16 / t )
Where Nf is the number of cycles to failure and t
the wall thickness. Although the given formula is
limited to a maximum thickness of t ≤ 50 mm it has
been applied in this case.
Based on the aforementioned FE calculations, the
relevant stress concentration factors (SCF) for the
observed three joints are given in Table 5. Herein the
first lower index describes the member (ch = chord,
b = brace) and the second one the loading condition
(ch = chord loading, ax = axial balanced brace load-
ing).
In contrast to the given values in Table 5,
CIDECT Serial No. 8 (2000) recommends a mini-
mum SCF = 2.0 unless it is negligible. The follow-
ing reasons are given:
- a possible and uncontrollable crack initiation from
the weld root, that is not covered within the SCF
value determined for the weld toe,
- possible deviations of the principle stress direction
from the direction perpendicular to the weld toe
and
- difficulties in FE modeling.
Table 4. Assumed damage equivalent factors λi
λ description value
λ1 span length and shape of influence line; 2.25
mid span, L = 40 m
λ2 traffic volume; 0.63
NObs = 0,5·106 lorries per year
λ3 design life of the bridge; N = 100 years 1.0
λ4 number of lanes with heavy traffic; k = 1 1.0
λ = λ1⋅λ2⋅λ3⋅λ4 1.41
The recommended minimum SCF value is a rea-
sonable assumption and should especially be applied
for thin sections used for buildings or crane struc-
tures. However, the authors believe, that for thick
sections and high quality full penetration welds with
good accessibility SCF values in the range between
1.5 and 2.0 may be acceptable as well.
With the above mentioned assumptions and based
on the SCF values given in Table 5, the fatigue limit
state has been verified for all three joints, thus
clearly indicating, that for the specific type of bridge
also welded CHS joint would have been possible.
7 CONCLUSIONS
This contribution covers the application of circu-
lar hollow sections in bridge design and tries to give
an overview about the advantages and disadvantages
of either cast steel or welded joints in order to help
practical engineers in their decisions and to allow for
a further application of circular hollow sections in
bridge design.
Concerning a cost effective and robust design of
CHS joints for bridge structures the following con-
clusions are drawn:
- cast steel joints should be used if there are several
members to be connected at one joint resulting in a
complex joint geometry. For such cases, the casting
process allows an optimal design of the joint ac-
cording to the flow of internal forces, increasing
their static and fatigue resistance compared to
welded joints.
- for standard joint types such as e.g. K- or KK-
joints that are typically used for triangular truss
girders, welded joints are the more economic solu-
tion and, providing a high manufacturing standard
especially for the welds, a possible alternative.
Through detailed investigations connected to a
recently completed CHS truss bridge near Stuttgart,
it has been shown, that for this bridge instead of cast
steel also welded joints would have been a possible
alternative. This conclusion could be drawn from
numerical studies based on FE calculations applying
the hot-spot stress approach for the fatigue assess-
ment of the welded joints.
Table 5. Stress concentrations factors (SCF)
SCF brace loading chord loading
chord brace chord brace
KK
SCF SCFbKK SCFchKK,ch SCFbKK
ch ,ax ,ax ,ch
joint 1 1.99 1.68 1.40 0.30
joint 2 2.06 1.78 1.39 0.36
joint 3 2.08 1.85 1.37 0.41
 Furthermore, these studies clearly indicated that 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
for a wide application of cost effective and robust The authors would like to express their gratitude
welded CHS joints, the currently existing design to Mr. G. Stuba who did the FE-Analysis within his
guide CIDECT Serial No. 8 (2000) should be ad- diploma-thesis.
justed to the specific situation of bridge structures,
e.g. by extending the parameter range of the SCF
values or providing values for the fatigue resistance
also for a large wall thickness.

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