In all tested load cases, SCFs at the brace side were found to
be smaller than those at the chord side, while the values were
comparable to those of S355J2H steel RHS joints [23]. The SCF
distribution for Specimen I and Specimen II under pure AX, IPB
and OPB conditions is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. In
Figs. 6 and 7, it can be seen that the HSS distributed symmetrically
according to the IPB and the OPB axes, and concentrated at the
corners.
The SCF value obtained at the corner C4 at critical locations A and E at
the brace side and B, C and D (Fig. 5) at the chord side are listed in Table 2
and are compared with the values calculated by using the SCF equations
suggested by Wingerde [22] and adopted by the CIDECT design guide
[12]. In Table 2, it can be observed that the test values generally agreed
with the equation values, while the relative percentage differences for
most locations were less than 30%. More detailed analysis of SCF at
other corners showed similar conclusion except that the relative
percentage differences were slightly larger for corners C1, C2 and C3.
On the brace side, the SCF at A and E were found to be slightly higher
than predictions by the equations and other locations at the brace.
Hence, it could be concluded that the SCF at A and E could represent
the maximum SCFs that could appear at the brace side. As for the
chord side, when AX and IPB were applied the SCF values at D
appeared to be consistently less than those at B and C. However