Elastic interaction in multiple bolted timber joints

Abstract

The management of axial forces is an important issue when a joining method that takes into account the axial forces generated by tightening bolts is applied to the bolted joints of a wooden structure during construction. This study focuses on elastic interactions in which the axial force of adjacent bolts changes as a result of sequential tightening of each bolt in multiple bolted joints affecting the deformation around each of the other bolts. To this end, tightening experiments are conducted within the elastic range, with the tightening sequence, bolt spacing, and wood thickness set as parameters. From the results, it was found that variations in axial force tended to decrease as bolt spacing increases. In addition, an evaluation formula for calculating fluctuations in axial force due to elastic interactions was derived. By comparing the calculated value to the experimental value, it was found that as bolt spacing was increased, the calculated value tended to capture the experimental values well.