Experiments on Large-Diameter Welded Hollow Spherical Joint

We experimented on welded hollow spherical joint of a stadium steel roof to investigate the stress and strain distributions on the surface of the joint and determine the ultimate bearing capacity. Then, finite element analysis was made to cross-examine the experimental results. When the test load was 140% of the design load, the stress at the bottom of the fourth wimble pipe reached the yield point. The experimental results agree with the analytical results well.