Abstract
Tenon-mortise joint is widely used in traditional timber structures around the world. This paper summarizes the results of an experimental study of the structural behavior of tenon-mortise joints made with glulam and CNC technology instead of traditional material and manual work. 30 full-scale tenon-mortise joints were manufactured and tested under monotonic loading, and the effects of dimension, shape, processing error and adhesive were evaluated. It was found that the round rectangular shaped tenon-mortise joints were comparable with traditional joints in terms of structural performance, but were time and labor saving. The variability of the proposed tenon-mortise joints was lower, which would benefit the design value. Applying adhesive between tenon and mortise increased the average stiffness by 4.3 times and average moment capacity by 27.4%, respectively. The gaps between wood members had little effect on the capacity and stiffness in monotonic bending but may influence the energy dissipation ability in cyclic bending. This study showed the feasibility of combining the traditional joinery method with modern wood products and manufacturing technology, which may promote the application of tenon-mortise joints in modern timber structures.
Highlights
A tenon-mortise joint is a joinery method used to connect two wood members
For the through tenon-mortise joints, it was observed from other side of the mortise that the upper end of the tenon tongue deformed in compression perpendicular to grain due to compression between two members, and the upper end of tenon slipped towards the direction of beam
To investigate the structural behavior of the tenon-mortise joints manufactured with modern wood products and technology. 30 straight tenon-mortise joints were manufactured with glulam and milled into shape with a CNC machine
Summary
A tenon-mortise joint is a joinery method used to connect two wood members. The tenon and mortise usually fit exactly and the joint is strong enough to carry the intended load. This joint is used around the world with a very long history. The tenon-mortise joint is extensively used in traditional timber structures, especially in East Asia, like China, Japan and Korea. Many traditional timber structures still stand in existing, like the oldest timber structure, the Hōryū-ji temple (Nara, Japan) [4], the tallest timber structure Yingxian Wood Pagoda (Shuozhou, China) [3], these heritages demonstrate the structural ability of the tenon-mortise joint
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