The Bolted Timber Connections; Bearing Shear Failure with the European Yield Model (EYM)

Abstract

This study is done to evaluate the structural performances of bolted timber connections in local hardwoods. In Sarawak, Belian hardwood is typically used to construct the floor and wall diaphragm for unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. Unfortunately, there is a lack of experimental data on bolted connection of Belian hardwoods. This gap in experimental data might lead to difficulties in designing bolted timber connections for strengthening purposes. Therefore, the study was carried out to evaluate the existing equations in predicting the bolted connection in Belian hardwood. A calibration factor for Belian hardwood will be provided to optimise the use of the current design equation in predicting the row shear failure mode. The European Yield Model (EYM) and Malaysia Standard (MS) will also be compared to the experimental results to verify the suitable equation to predict the strength of the ductile mode of failure. From the comparison between experimental versus prediction values, EYM and Row Shear equation were acceptable to predict the bearing and row shear failure while the MS was found too conservative with a range from 0.16 to 0.25 compared to the 5th percentile experimental results.