CRITERIA FOR THE FATIGUE ASSESSMENT OF HOLLOW STRUCTURAL SECTION CONNECTIONS

A discussion of fatigue design criteria is presented for connections between hollow structural sections, based on knowledge gained from an extensive study on the fatigue behaviour of 90 degrees T- and X-connections made of square hollow sections. After a general discussion of the various fatigue assessment methods available, the paper focuses on considerations behind the definition of the hot spot stress. On this basis, the current fatigue design guidelines are discussed. Based on knowledge gained from experiments and having identified the important fatigue design criteria, a hot spot definition is established, together. with the outline of a proposal for future fatigue design guidelines of hollow section connections.