Finite Element Analysis to Determine Stress Concentration Factors of Dragline Tubular Joints

This paper presents a finite element analysis (FEA), by using ANSYS 10.0 (SAS IP Inc 2005), to determine the stress concentration factor (SCF) of the dragline tubular joints. Different load cases, element types, weld sizes and shapes are considered in the analysis. The predicted SCF are compared with the experimental values based on full-size laboratory testing. Finite element (FE) model for the dragline tubular joint consists of the main chord and bracing members with all the attachments like, end plates, load cells, nuts and rods, with concave weld shape and equal weld leg length has been selected to determine SCF. Two layers of 10-node tetrahedral element (SOLID187) and 2 layers of 20-node hexahedral element (SOLID186) have been used in the FE model. The FEA results for all the laboratory test specimens are particularly good when loaded under load case 1 (LC1) and reasonable when loaded under load case 2 (LC2).