Moment-resisting bolted timber connections

Abstract

This paper evaluates the performance of moment-resisting bolted timber connections with self-tapping wood screws acting as perpendicular-to-grain reinforcement. Considering an unreinforced joist-to-column connection with slotted-in steel plates as baseline, an increase in capacity by a factor of 1·7 was observed when the connections were reinforced with self-tapping screws under reverse cyclic loading. This was further increased by 22·5% when the bolt diameter in the reinforced connection was increased from 19·0 to 25·4 mm. Reducing the edge distances of the bolts in the reinforced connection provided addition gain in capacity of 35·3% to a total capacity increase by a factor of 2·9 when compared to the unreinforced connections while maintaining very ductile behaviour. The results show that it is feasible to create ductile and high-capacity moment-resisting bolted timber connections with self-tapping wood screws as reinforcements.