Acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of full-hole bolt-bearing testing on structural compositelumbers (SCL) including laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and oriented strand lumber (OSL) were investigated. The main conclusion is that AE cumulative counts vs time curves of the tested SCL in this study can be characterized with three distinct regions in terms of AE count rates: Region I with a lower constant count rate, Region II with varied and increased count rates, and Region III with a higher constant count rate. Differences in AE count rates of these three regions occurred between LVL and OSL. Also, within each tested SCL, differences in AE count rates were observed among the three regions. These differences in terms of AE count rates between two tested SCL indicate that different types of wood-based composites might have different AE characteristics in terms of the count rate changes when they are subjected to increased bolt compression load. In other words, these differences in AE characteristics between the two tested materials suggest AE “signatures” do exist for SCL bolt connections.
FPInnovations carried out a survey with consultants and researchers on the use of analytical models and software packages related to the analysis and design of mass timber buildings. The responses confirmed that a lack of suitable models and related information for material properties of timber connections was creating an impediment to the design and construction of this type of buildings. Furthermore, there is currently a lack of computer models and expertise for carrying out performance-based design for wood buildings, in particular seismic and/or fire performance design.
In this study, a sophisticated constitutive model for wood-based composite material under stress and temperature was developed. This constitutive model was programmed into a user-subroutine which can be added to most general-purpose finite element software. The developed model was validated with test results of a laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beam and glulam bolted connection under force and/or fire.
The design of multiple bolted connections in accordance with Appendix E of the National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS) has incorporated provisions for evaluating localized member failure modes of row and group tear-out when the connections are closely spaced. Originally based on structural glued laminated timber (glulam) members made with all L1 Douglas fir-Larch laminating lumber, the NDS provisions were confirmed by additional analysis, which indicates the applicability of the provisions to glulam with reduced design shear values. Due to the similarity to glulam in the grain orientation and layup strategy, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is subject to similar failure modes. As a result, a study was initiated by APA – The Engineered Wood Association and the LVL industry, in collaboration with the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to evaluate if a reduced design shear stress is necessary for LVL under similar multiple bolted connection configurations. This paper describes the test results obtained from the study, which indicate that an adequate load factor exists for LVL multiple bolted connections without a reduction in the LVL design shear stress when designed in accordance with Appendix E of the NDS.
Lagscrewbolt (LSB) has been used widely for composing glulam moment resisting column-leg as well as beam-column joints for constructing semi-rigid wooden frame structures. A serious problem on the existing LSB joint, however, was its brittle failure mode. In order to avoid this characteristic, Slotted Bolted Connection (SBC) systems, which is a kind of the friction damper for steel truss structure, was introduced to the existing glulam LSB joint system serially. Experiments on full-scale column-leg joint and beam-column joint, which were intended to be used in a three storey glulam school building, showed satisfactory performance on the requirements for the stiffness, yielding and ultimate performance. By this innovative investigation, a glulam semi-rigid portal frame, which has high initial stiffness, clear yielding capacity, rich ductility, and free from glulam brittle fractures, might be possible to be realized.
Earthquake-resisting performance of glulam frame structure was evaluated by shaking table tests on a specially designed glulam “double cross shape” specimen composed of slotted bolted connection (SBC) system. By the first vibration test using sinusoidal wave, the specimen survived until 80% level of input waves without damage. After renewing SBC system, the second vibration test was done on a same specimen using the JMA-Kobe NS waves having a maximum acceleration of 816gal. The specimen survived until 100% level of input without damage but failed by the panel-shear when 120% level was inputted. Earthquake-resisting performance of glulam moment-resisting joints composed of SBC system was considered as satisfactory enough for ductile joint system, but improvement of panelshear of glulam member itself was recognized as a future research need.
In this study, five full-scale bolted glulam beam-to-beam connections with slotted-in steel plates were conducted under a third-point loading, and a three-dimensional finite element method based model was also established to investigate the failure modes and moment resistance of such connections. A material model based on the Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) theory was developed to predict damage evolution of wood. Different damage variables were used to consider the ductile and brittle failure modes of wood, respectively. The test results indicated that splitting and shear plug failures were the main failure modes. The numerical analysis model prediction achieved fair agreements with the test results. The research could provide the guide for the design of bolted beam-to-column connections in heavy timber structures.
This paper summarizes the experimental results from a series of tests that investigated the performance of timber-to-steel tensile connections exposed to fire. A series of fire-resistance tests were conducted on bolted wood-steelwood and steel-wood-steel connections loaded in tension. Each specimen had different cross-sectional area, fastener diameter, fastener spacing, edge distance, and tension load. The fire temperature profile produced by the furnace used both the standard time-temperature curve CAN/ULC-S101 and a non-standard time-temperature curve based on previous studies done at Carleton University. Results showed that the wood-steel-wood specimens had a longer time to failure than steel-wood-steel specimens with the same dimensions. The heat transfer and structural modeling portion of this research is currently underway using three-dimensional finite-element models.
