EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SPHERICAL PLAIN BEARING BASED JOINT

A new type of articulated joint with a radial spherical plain bearing is adopted in a television tower. The articulated joint is composed of a radial spherical plain bearing, a pin shaft, a nested fastening plate and ear-plates. Simultaneous axial and radial loading tests were carried out in order to understand the complex behavior of the joint. The stress and strain developments in various part of the joint were obtained from the tests. The spherical bearing is found to remain safe at the ultimate capacity of the joint, but the connecting thread between the jut and the ear plate is broken away. Elastic-plastic FEA with contact interface element is carried out using ABAQUS and the failure mechanism of the articulated joint is analyzed in depth. Based on the analysis, improvements on details of the joint are proposed and presented as well.