Development of Acacia Glulam Wood Exterior Beam-to-Column Connection with Angles and Steel Rods System

Abstract

In this paper, two models (M9B1 and M9B2 connection types) of acacia glulam wood exterior beam-to-column connections with angles and steel rod system have been developed. Both models have been tested experimentally under monotonic static and cyclic loadings. The behaviour of each model under static and cyclic loadings, maximum displacement, maximum moment, equivalent viscous damping ratio, stiffness degradation, rotational stiffness and ductility have been observed. From the test results it can be concluded that the behaviour of the connections were influenced by the number of bearing steel rods at the beam, wood quality, and thickness of the angles. The M9B1 connection type has more flexibility than the M9B2 connection type. Three dimensional finite element analyses considering anisotropic plasticity have been conducted for both models. It can be concluded that in M9B1 connection type, the tensile forces due to the moment are received by the combination of tensile steel rods and bearing force in the steel rod and wood around it. Overall performance of M9B2 connection type is better than that of M9B1 connection type because the former has higher initial stiffness and higher rotational ductility than the later.