A Robust Stiffness-based Analytical Model for Wood Lateral Strength

in Timber Connections:
Riveted Joint Capacity in Brittle and Mixed Failure Modes

Pouyan Zarnani1 and Pierre Quenneville2

1
PhD Candidate in Timber Structural Engineering
University of Auckland, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand
Email: pzar004@aucklanduni.ac.nz
2
Professor of Timber Design
University of Auckland, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand
Email: p.quenneville@auckland.ac.nz

ABSTRACT: In the prediction models which have been proposed so far for the wood lateral strength in timber connections
using dowel-type fasteners, the minimum, maximum or the summation of the tensile and shear capacities of the failed wood
block planes are considered which results in disagreements between the experimental values and the uncertain or conservative
predictions. These methods might not be appropriate since the stiffness in tensile and shear planes differs and this leads to
uneven load distribution amongst the resisting planes. The present study focuses on the timber rivet connections with high load
transfer capacity. In the current standards, there is no closed form solution for the strength prediction of this type of
connection. Also, the standards restrict the use of rivets to specific configurations and for glulam and sawn timber of some
limited species. A close-form analytical method to determine the load-carrying capacity of wood under parallel-to-grain
loading in rivet connection in timber products is proposed. For the wood strength, the stiffness and strength of the planes
subjected to non-uniform shear and tension stresses are taken into account. The effective wood thickness on brittle failure
mode is derived correspondent to elastic deformation of rivets and for mixed failure mode depending on the governed failure
mode of the rivets. Furthermore, a rational algorithm is presented which allows the designer to predict the different possible
brittle, ductile and mixed failure modes. Results of tests on New Zealand Radiata Pine LVL and glulam and data available
from literature confirm the validity of this new method and show that this predictive analytical method can be used as design
provision for timber riveted connections. The proposed method can be extended to other dowel type fastener such as nails,
screws and bolts for efficient connection design and failure modes prediction.

1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 BACKGROUND

1.1 GENERAL Foschi and Longworth (1975) proposed a prediction model
(Eq. 1) based on finite element analysis for wood strength,
Connections are often the most critical components of any
Pw, in riveted connection loaded parallel-to-grain in brittle
engineered structure. Assessments of timber buildings
failure which involves the tensile, Pt, and shear, Pv,
damaged after extreme wind and earthquake events often
capacities of the failure areas of wood. The authors provided
point to inadequate connections as the primary cause of
tables of values for the numerically derived factors K, β, α
damage (Foliente, 1998). Dowel-type timber connections can
and γ which are related to the connection geometry
fail in four different failure modes in loading parallel to the
parameters. Their proposed model formed the basis for
grain (Quenneville and Mohammad, 2000): row shear, block
timber rivet design procedures in the Canadian (O86-09) and
or plug shear failure, bearing and splitting failure. The only
U.S. (NDS) codes.
ductile failure mode of the four is the bearing or embedding
f t ,k At
failure mode, where the dowel compresses the wood during Pt 
yielding which causes localized wood crushing. K t  t t  h
[1] Pw= min f A
Due to the fact that rivets are small in diameter and installed
Pv  v ,k v
in small spacing, they don’t fail in row shear or splitting K s  s h
which can occur for larger dowel-type fasteners such as
In Annex A of Eurocode 5 (2004), the wood resistance of
bolts. Therefore, for riveted connections, there are two major
dowel-type timber connections in plug shear failure is
mechanisms of failure; the brittle tear-out of a plug of wood
determined using Equation 2. This model is based on the
defined by the rivet’s perimeter and the ductile yielding of
maximum of the tensile resistance of the end face or the sum
rivets with wood embedding. The brittle failure mode should
of the shear resistances of the side and bottom faces
be avoided since it induces the brittle downfall of the whole
correspondent to the effective wood depth, tef, which depends
structure and the ability to predict it is important. In addition,
on the governing failure mode.
a mixed failure mode is also possible and is investigated in
this study. A rational algorithm is also presented for the 1.5 At ,ef f t ,k
[2] Pw= max
prediction of connection strength in this failure mode. 0.7 Av ,ef f v ,k

1
Stahl et al. (2004) presented a simplified analysis for wood under applied load by using a simplified analytical model
strength. They assumed that the tensile and the shear (Fig. 3). Tensile force
capacities are additive. Their proposed analysis (Eq. 3) is distribution
da Shear force
based on three possible wood failure modes shown in Figure distribution
Fixed L
1. edge da
Pl
P L
[3] Pw= min (Pa, Pb, Pc), Pi = 0.2 ft,k + 0.2 fv,k Main loaded
Pb
tef Ph block
Pb

In contact Bottom block

bottom block Xb
(a) (b) (c) dz ≥ Xb
Xb=2tef
Fig. 1: Proposed wood failure modes in riveted connections
Fixed edge
by Stahl et al. (2004)
In the prediction models which have been proposed for the Fig. 3: Simplified analytical model
wood strength so far, the minimum, maximum or the
summation of the tensile and shear capacities of the failed 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
wood block resisting planes is considered as the wood
28 different connection configurations were tested (Fig. 4).
strength of the connection. These methods are not
As shown in Figure 5, it can be deduced that there is
appropriate since the stiffness in tensile and shear planes
considerable conformity between the predictions by the
differs and this results in uneven load distribution amongst
proposed analysis and the test data including the one from
the resisting planes (Zarnani and Quenneville, 2011). The
literature. Moreover, results from the proposal have a higher
fact is that in a plug shear failure (Fig. 1a), the contribution
correlation coefficient of 0.87 in comparison to Stahl’s
of the bottom or lateral shear planes to the wood resistance
method and the O86-09 code’s predictions with 0.78 and
cannot simply be considered as a function of their respective
EC5’s prediction at 0.67.
area as the connection load is not shared uniformly among
the resisting planes due to the unequal stiffness of the
adjacent wood. In addition, in the previous models the load
distribution on the bottom and lateral shear planes is
considered uniform though it is increasing towards the head
of the joint. In the proposed analysis, the addressed
significant shortcomings of the available predictive models
are taken into account to develop a robust model.

2 NEW ANALYSIS FOR WOOD CAPACITY Fig. 4: Wood failure in brittle/mixed modes
1800
The new analysis for wood strength is based on a linearly
Predicted Average Strength [kN]

New Analytical M.
1600
elastic spring system in which the applied load transfers from r² = 0.87
1400 MAE=+1.1%
the main loaded wood block to the contact planes in STDEV=20.4%
conformity with the relative stiffness ratio of each resisting 1200

plane (Fig. 2). Therefore, by predicting these stiffness, the 1000

contribution of each plane to lateral resistance and finally the 800

ultimate load that triggers the brittle failure on these planes 600
can be derived. 400
Pw = Ph+Pb+Pl 200
New Analytical M.
Head Lateral 0
tensile plane - h shear planes - l 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Main loaded Observed Average Test Strength [kN]
block
Δ Fig. 5: Predictions vs. test data in brittle/mixed failure modes
Kh Kb Kl
Bottom 4 CONCLUSION
shear plane - b
Pw A close form stiffness-based analytical model to determine
Ph Pb Pl
the wood resistance of riveted connections in timber products
Fig. 2: Proposed elastic spring model is proposed. It takes into account the stiffness and strength of
the failure planes. Based on the proposed design model, an
The difference in the stiffness of the tensile and shear planes efficient connection design can be made by decreasing the
is a function of the differences between the modulus of difference between the capacity of the wood and the rivets.
elasticity and modulus of rigidity, the effects of wood size Furthermore, practitioners will be able to predict the different
surrounding the loaded block (bottom, end and edge possible brittle, ductile and mixed failure modes. The
distances-dz, da and de) and also the connection geometry. proposed method can be extended to other dowel type
The stiffness of the resisting planes was derived based on the fastener; e.g. nails, screws and bolts for connection design
deflection of the head tensile, bottom and lateral shear planes improvement and failure modes prediction.