Cast steel nodes have been used for some time in offshore steel structures, and recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in steel castings for onshore tubular structures. This has taken place principally in Europe, where cast nodes have now gained acceptance in road and railway bridges that are susceptible to fatigue. In North America, the potential for the revival of steel castings in onshore construction has just been realized. Tubular structures, in particular, are an ideal application and castings can provide viable solutions to tubular connection design problems, particularly under seismic and fatigue loadings.
,A summary of Canadian experience with cast steel nodes is given, including descriptions of both an in-progress project involving cast steel nodes used for a tree-like roof-supporting structure at the University of Guelph, Ontario, as well as current research being carried out at the University of Toronto on cast steel connectors for tubular hollow sections which are subjected to cyclic inelastic loading.
