Mechanical experimental study on tensile bolted connections of crosslaminated timber

Abstract

In order to explore a kind of high-strength, earthquake-resistant, economical and suitable connection, 4 groups of cross-laminated timber wall-to-floor and wall-to-wall bolted connections were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading. The deformation characteristics and failure modes of the cross-laminated timber wall-to-floor and wall-to-wall bolted connections were exploited. Load-slip curves, bearing capacity, yielding point, stiffness and ductility of each group of specimens were analyzed. The test results indicate that the loading process of cross-laminated timber bolted connections under tension can be categorized as five stages, namely the elastic stage, the slip stage, the embedding stage, the yielding stage and the ultimate stage. The ultimate tensile capacity of cross-laminated timber bolted wall-to-floor connections is 2.67 times that of the wall-to-wall bolted connections. Compared with cross-laminated timber self-tapping screwed connections, the ultimate tensile capacity of the cross-laminated timber wall-tofloor bolted connections is 2.70 times that of the self-tapping screwed connections, and the ultimate tensile capacity of the cross-laminated timber wall-to-wall bolted connections is 3.83 times that of the self-tapping screwed connections. The cross-laminated timber bolted connections have larger yielding displacement and wider plastic range, and they are more energy dissipative and more ductile. Furthermore, the cost of the cross-laminated timber wall-to-floor bolted connections is 46% that of the self-tapping screwed connections, while the cost of cross-laminated wall-to-wall bolted connections is 53% that of the self-screwed connections.