The two-way action of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is often ignored in the design of CLT due to its complexity. But in some cases, for example, large span timber floor/roof, the benefit of taking the two-way action into account may be considerable since it is often deflection controlled in the design. Furthermore CLT panels are typically limited to widths of less than 3 m. therefore, for practical applications, engaging CLT panels in two-way action as a plate in bending would require connecting two panels in the width/minor direction to take out-of-plane loading. To address this technically difficult situation, an innovative connection was developed to join the CLT panels in the minor direction to form a large continuous two-way plate. The two-way action of CLT was also quantified. Static bending test was conducted on CLT panels in the major and minor directions to measure the Modulus of Elasticity (MOE). This provided a benchmark for the following connection test, and data for the future development of computer modeling. The average apparent MOE was 9.09 GPa in the major direction and 2.37 GPa in the minor direction. Several connection techniques were considered and tested, including self-tapping wood screws, glued in steel rods, and steel connectors. One connecting system was found to be effective. For the panel configuration considered, the system was consisted of steel plates, self-tapping wood screws, and 45° screw washers. Two steel plates were placed on the tension side with sixteen screws, and one steel plates was placed on the compression side with four screws. When the screws were driven into the wood, the screws were tightly locked with the washers and steel plates, and at the same time, the wood members were pulled together by the screws. This eliminated any original gap within the connection. The connector was installed to join two CLT members in the minor direction. They were tested under bending with the same setup as above. The connected panels had an average apparent MOE of 2.37 GPa, and an average shear-free MOE of 2.44 GPa, both of which were higher than the counterpart in the full panels. The moment capacity of the connected panels was also high. The minimum moment capacity was 3.2 times the design value. Two large CLT panels were tested under concentrated loading with four corners simply supported. The deflection of nine locations within the panels was measured. This data will be used to validate the computer modeling for CLT two-way action.
