Every country needs a well-maintained public infrastructure system to deliver essential services to its citizens and propel economic growth. The Engineering Institution of Zambia carried out a comprehensive study on the state of public infrastructure in Zambia and produced the country's first ever 'report card'. A team of experts assessed the state of infrastructure based on four criteria: condition; capacity; operations; and security. The purpose of the report card was to sensitize the government and the general public about the condition and performance of engineering infrastructure in the country. The report covered seven categories comprising: roads and bridges; water supply, sanitation and solid waste; electricity; information and communication technology; and airports and railway infrastructure. These were graded on a scale A to F where Grade A was awarded to infrastructure that was adequate for present and future use and F to that which was totally inadequate. Overall, the infrastructure system was found to be inadequate to meet present and future needs in a number of aspects.

The yield strength-to-tensile stress ratio (fy/fu) is considered to be an important material factor in the design of welded tubular joints. For instance CIDECT (2008) has set a limitation on fy of 0.8fu and for steels with nominal fy greater than 355Mpa and a reduction factor of 0.9 on all joint strength formulae to account for the relatively larger deformations that take place for joints with nominal fy of 450Mpa[1]. In this study a statistical analysis of an experimental database was carried in order to determine the influence of the chord fy/fu ratio on joint strength. A finite element study was also carried out in order to quantify this influence and a yield strength function was proposed. Results from the statistical analysis and finite element study both show that the static strength of unstiffened circular hollow section (CHS) K-gap joints under static axial loading is inversely proportional to the chord fy/fu ratio.

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