Node Flexibility and its Effect on Jacket Structures - A Pilot Study on Two-Dimensional Frames

Description

This Report presents an investigation of the commonly ignored effect of chord wall flexibility at brace connections on the behaviour of oil production jacket structures. It considers the effects on the in-plane deflections, axial forces, bending moments, brace buckling and natural frequencies of three 100m tall vertical plane frames. The effects of out-of-plane loading and joints with braces in more than one plane were outside scope of the study. Results from conventional analysis, in which the braces are extended to connect rigidly with the chords at their centre line intersection points, are compared with other analyses in which the joints are represented by a stiffness matrix. Approximate 'hand' methods for assessing the effect of joint flexibility on other structures are suggested. Content: Front Matter • List of Tables • List of Figures • Summary • Notation • Abstract of Report, Results and Conclusions • Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Description of the Work 3. Local Flexibility of Joints 4. Results 5. Interpretation of the Results 6. Estimation of Effects of Node Flexibility 7. Recommendations Appendices • References