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In tubular frames with simple joints, joints may show considerable flexibility in the elastic as well as the elastic-plastic ranges. Such flexibility may have large effects on the behavior of the structure as a whole. In a previous paper, an effective simple model of tubular joints is developed. The model takes account of joint flexibility in the elastic as well as the elastic-plastic ranges based on elastic-fully plastic load-displacement relatioships. In this paper an improved joint model is presented to provide better accuracy while maintaining simplicity. The accuracy of the model is confirmed through comparisons with results of finite element analysis. Equations to evaluate the initial stiffness of tubular T and Y-joints when braces are subjected to axial compression or in-plane bending moment are also presented. Such equations for different types of joints in different loading conditions are needed in order to avoid expensive calculations to evaluate the initial stiffness of joints.

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The Idealized Structural Unit Method [1, 2] is applied to the analysis of nonlinear behavior of three-dimensional offshore tubular frames. To this purpose the “tubular structural unit” is developed and used to analyze the entire behavior of the frame until final collapse. In this method large deflections, instability, plasticity and the effect of residual stresses and initial out of straightness are considered. Modeling of a structure is very simple since large structural units are regarded as elements. The required computer effort is very small while attaining a high degree of accuracy and reliability.

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