Timber connections with steel dowel-type fasteners may fail in ductile or brittle ways. The design of this joints was traditionally focused on ductile failure, assuming that brittle failure could be avoided by means of geometrical limitations. However, recent studies demonstrated that these assumptions do not always guarantee ductile failure. A new design model for timber connections with small diameter dowel-type fasteners is provided in this paper. Its improved accuracy is demonstrated by analysing an extensive database of experimental tests and comparing its prediction accuracy to that of existing models.
The performance of structural timber connections is of utmost importance since they control the global response of the building. A ductile failure mechanism on the global scale is desirable, especially in the design of structures in seismic areas, where dissipative components in which ductile failure modes need to be ensured are considered. Therefore, the knowledge of possible brittle failure modes of connections is crucial. The paper investigates the brittle failures of laterally loaded dowel-type connections in cross-laminated timber subjected to tensile load in a lap joint configuration through experimental investigations and analytical estimations. A set of 13 different test series has been performed with fully threaded self-tapping screws of 8 mm diameter and different lengths (40 to 100 mm) in cross-laminated timber composed of 3 or 5 layers (layer thickness range from 20 to 40 mm), giving rise to the activation of different brittle failure modes at different depths. Plug shear was among the most typically observed failure modes. A previously proposed model for the brittle capacity was applied to the tested connections at the characteristic level. As shown by the performed statistical analysis, the existing model is not reliable and mainly unconservative. A very low performance is observed (CCC = 0.299), but with a good correlation (c = 0.750) for the tests in the parallel direction. Further research work is required to improve the current model predictions and to gain a better understanding of the underlying resisting mechanisms.
The introduction of Cross-laminated Timber (CLT) as an engineered timber product has played a significant role in the considerable progress of timber construction in recent years. Extensive research has been conducted in Europe and more recently in Canada to evaluate the fastening capacity of different types of fasteners in CLT. While ductile capacities calculated using the yield limit equations are quite reliable for fastener resistance in connections, however, they do not take into account the possible brittle failure modes of the connection which could be the governing failure mode in multi-fastener joints. Therefore, a stiffness-based design approach which has already been developed by the authors and verified in LVL, glulam and lumber has been adapted to determine the block-tear out resistance of connections in CLT by considering the effect of perpendicular layers. The comparison between the test results on riveted connections conducted at the University of Auckland (UoA) and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the predictions using the new model and the one developed for uniformly layered timber products show that the proposed model provides higher predictive accuracy and can be used as a design provision to control the brittle failure of wood in CLT connections.
This paper presents an experimental study on ductility and overstrength of dowelled connections. Connection ductility and overstrength derived from monotonic testing are often used in timber connection design in the context of seismic loading, based on the assumption that these properties are similar under monotonic and cyclic loading. This assumption could possibly lead to non-conservative connection design. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify ductility and overstrength for cyclic loading and contrast them with their monotonic performance. For this purpose, monotonic and quasi-static cyclic experimental tests were performed on dowelled LVL and CLT connections. The experimental results were also compared with strength predictions from state-of-the-art analytical models in literature that were verified for ductile and brittle failure under monotonic loading. This work also allowed investigation into a generally applicable overstrength factor for push-pull loaded dowelled connections.
In existing wood strength prediction models for parallel to grain failure in timber connections using dowel-type fasteners, different methods consider the minimum, maximum, or summation of the tensile and shear capacities of the failed wood block planes. It is postulated that these methods are not appropriate since the stiffness of the adjacent wood loading the tensile and shear planes differs, and this leads to uneven load distribution among the resisting planes. A closed-form analytical method to determine the load-carrying capacity of wood under parallel-to-grain loading in small-dowel-type connections in timber products is thus proposed. For the wood strength, the stiffness of the adjacent loading volumes and strength of the failure planes subjected to nonuniform shear and tension stresses are considered. The effective wood thickness for the brittle failure mode is derived and related to the elastic deformation of the fastener. A mixed failure mode is also defined (a mixture of brittle and ductile) and depends on the governing ductile failure mode of the fastener. To help the designer, an algorithm is presented that allows the designer to calculate the resistances associated with predictions of the different possible brittle, ductile, and mixed failure modes. The proposed stiffness-based model has already been verified in brittle and mixed failure modes of timber rivet connections. In the research reported in this paper, an extended application is proposed for other small-dowel-type fasteners such as nails and screws. Results of nailed joint tests on laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and the test data available from the literature on glulam confirm the validity of this new method, and show that it can be used as a design provision for wood load-carrying capacity prediction of small-dowel-type timber connections.
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.
The introduction of Cross-laminated Timber (CLT) as an engineered timber product has played a significant role in considerable progress of timber construction in recent years. Extensive research has been conducted in Europe and more recently in Canada to evaluate the fastening capacity of different types of fasteners in CLT. While ductile capacities calculated using the yield limit equations are quite reliable for fastener resistance in connections, however, they do not take into account the possible brittle failure mode of the connection which could be the governing failure mode in multi-fastener joints. Therefore, a stiffness-based design approach which has already been developed by the authors and verified in LVL, glulam and lumber has been adapted to determine the block-tear out resistance of connections in CLT by considering the effect of perpendicular layers. The comparison between the test results on riveted connections conducted at the University of Auckland (UoA) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the predictions using the new model and the one developed for uniformly layered timber products show that the proposed model provides higher predictive accuracy and can be used as a design provision to control the brittle failure of wood in CLT connections.
In this study , torque loading tests on small shear blocks were performed to evaluate the rolling shear strength of cross-laminated timber (CLT). The CLT plates in the tests were manufactured with Mountain Pine Beetle-afflicted lumber boards and glued with polyurethane adhesive; two types of layups (five-layer and three-layer) with a clamping pressure 0.4 MPa were studied. The small block specimens were sampled from full-size CLT plates and the cross layers were processed to have an annular cross section. These specimens were tested under torque loading until brittle shear failure occurred in the middle cross layers. Based on the test results, the brittle shear failure in the specimens was evaluated by detailed finite element models to confirm the observed failure mode was rolling shear. Furthermore, a Monte Carlo simulation procedure was performed to investigate the occurrence probability of different shear failure modes in the tests considering the randomness of the rolling shear strength and longitudinal shear strength properties in the wood material. The result also suggested the probability of rolling shear failure is very high, which gives more confident proof that the specimens failed dominantly in rolling shear. It was also found that the torque loading test method yielded different rolling shear strength values compared to the previous research from short-span beam bending tests; such a difference may mainly be due to the different stressed volumes of material under different testing methods, which can be further investigated using the size effect theory in the future.
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