Fatigue study of partially overlapped circular hollow section K-joints. Part 1: Geometrical models and mesh generation

In this study, a set of consistent geometrical models is developed for fatigue assessment of partially overlapped circular hollow section K-joint. To accomplish the fatigue assessment, an accompanying set of automatic finite element mesh generation procedures is developed. These mesh generation procedures are able to discretize the geometrical models into different types of meshes for fatigue assessments of uncracked and cracked joints. The presentation of the work is divided into two parts. In Part 1, descriptions of the geometrical models and the mesh generation procedures are given. In Part 2, attention is focused on the validation of the numerical results.