Experimental investigations of T‐joints made of high‐strength square hollow sections

This article presents experimental investigations on welded T‐joints made of high‐strength square hollow sections (S700MH and S890QH) under axial and bending loads, with and without preloading the chord. A total of 56 tests were conducted to analyse the influence of geometric parameters, material properties and pre‐tensioning on joint behaviour and failure mechanism. The results are evaluated statistically and compared with current and draft Eurocode provisions (prEN 1993‐1‐8). The findings confirm that while the ‐factor offers a conservative basis, refinements are necessary to account for distinct failure mechanism such as punching shear failure and the influence of loading direction, particularly for high‐strength steels.