Ductility of Wood Connections With SDS Screws or Ring Nails and Angle Brackets

Abstract

Mechanical connections in wood structures typically consist of structural members connected with combination of cold-formed thin-walled steel angle brackets and fasteners in forms of nails or screws. Design of these steel connectors is typically based on short-term monotonic load bearing capacities. Observations from experimental testing indicate that their failure modes and resistance to a cyclic loading should be checked carefully to prevent the thread of sudden collapse of structures using these connections. This paper presents the experimental results of connections of CLT elements connected together by angle brackets and subjected to the external cyclic loading. Special focus is made on connections using heavy duty screws as fasteners. Results of experimental testing are compared to results of testing of similar connections using ring nails as fasteners. In addition, numerical simulations are made with aim to predict the failure modes and the load bearing capacities of experimentally tested connections.