Proceedings home preface contents authors keywords copyright reference ©2012 Civil-Comp Ltd				Paper 32 Numerical Evaluation of Chord Failure Resistance for Multi-Intersection Tubular Joints with Non-Regular Geometry: A Case Study R. Gori1, A. Mastropasqua2 and M. Zanchin2 1Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (DCEAE), University of Padua, Italy 2Mastropasqua-Zanchin & Associates Structural Engineering, Treviso-Udine, Italy Keywords: steel structures, joint, tubular intersection, non-linear mechanical response, chord failure resistance. full paper (pdf) - reference When considering recent architectonic trends in the design of truss systems as well as design and construction requirements including the evaluation of the ultimate strength of hollow section walls at the location of the joints. Here there are often geometric cases of tubular joints which cannot be managed in a systematic manner in accordance with current regulations. Often, they are not easy to assess with the technical recommendations and those from the literature. As a result, the designer has to use alternative criteria for evaluating the ultimate strength of the structural joints, including, numerical analyses which are specifically intended to predict the means and criteria of collapse and to determine the ultimate design loads. The New Headquarters of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Turin, has been here used as a structural example, since it is a good case study with a high number of tubular steel connections. The large number of geometries to inspect, the significant geometrical variability as a result of the number of structural members, as well as the angles of the structural members themselves, has resulted in the implementation of a programme of numerical tests aimed at providing parameters for the chord failure resistance of the structural members, revealing interesting profiles for comparison, both in terms of the European Code EN_1993-1-8 [1] and with reference to the conditions of collapse. Two examples, although they are not discussed in detail, were reported. The analysis of the results appeared to be doubly interesting in design terms, for the definition of the minimum resistance threshold (chord failure resistance), used for the optimization of member thicknesses, and for the analysis and observation of the post-critical phases, with particular reference to the possibility of interpreting the collapse type (ductile, semi-ductile, or brittle). References 1 EN 1993-1-8, "Design of Steel Structures - Design of Joints", CEN, 2005.