An Experimental and Analysis Comparison of Solid Wood Bridle Joints with Various Fastener and Retrofit Methods
Received: 29 January 2025 | Revised: 23 February 2025 and 28 February 2025 | Accepted: 6 March 2025 | Online: 3 April 2025
Corresponding author: Ketut Sulendra
Abstract
Teak (tectona grandis) is a material widely used for roof framing, known for its load-bearing capacity. Many buildings, including wooden ones, suffered significant damage after an earthquake due to failure of meeting technical requirements for seismic resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the wooden roof trusses before a strong earthquake occurs. This study examines the structural behavior of L-type solid wood trusses under different fasteners, strengthening methods, and loading directions, and compares the experimental test with analysis methods. The test specimens consisted of teak L-joints with dimensions of 2 mm³ ×70 mm³ ×140 mm³ ×800 mm³ and a total of 32 pieces. Four types of fasteners were used: wooden plugs (4ø16 mm), bolts (4ø1/2"), nails (13ø3.76 mm), each with a length of 2.5", and screws (26ø3.50 mm) each with a length of 1.5". The retrofit materials were: L35.35.3 iron profile, C70.35.0.45 stainless steel, and 60.4 strip plate. The specimens were loaded in two directions: upright and sideways using a flexure tester with a maximum capacity of 150 kN and a maximum displacement stroke of 100 mm, which continued until peak load was reached, and then stopped after a load drop. The maximum load on the L-joint was found to be higher in the upright position than in the side-up position. The highest load capacities were achieved with the following fasteners: bolts, screws, nails, and wooden dowels, for both loading directions. Retrofitting with iron profile shows the greatest increase in load capacity for both loading directions. For right-up loading, retrofitting with strip plates is better than stainless steel, while for side-p loading, stainless steel retrofit is better than the strip plate. Failure modes were mainly shear cracks in the joint area originating from the bolt and pin holes. Failures were observed as breakage in wooden pins, and shear failure in nails and screws. The comparison of the maximum load capacity of the experimental test shows higher results compared to the results of the analysis calculation, with a ratio of about 1.20. The formula for calculating the load resistance of the joint, with a constant value of 73.11, in the literature review must be corrected to 70.80 for nail joints, 70.40 for bolt joints, and 62.10 for screw joints.
Keywords:
solid wooden bridle joints, retrofit methods, loading directions, load capacity ratioDownloads
References
A. Kermani, Structural Timber Design, 1st edition. Newark, NJ, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 1998.
M. H. Ramage et al., "The wood from the trees: The use of timber in construction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 68, pp. 333–359, Feb. 2017.
T. Marzi, "Nanostructured materials for protection and reinforcement of timber structures: A review and future challenges," Construction and Building Materials, vol. 97, pp. 119–130, Oct. 2015.
Y. Idris et al., "Post-Earthquake Damage Assessment after the 6.5 Mw Earthquake on December, 7th 2016 in Pidie Jaya, Indonesia," Journal of Earthquake Engineering, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 409–426, Jan. 2022.
S. C. Alih and M. Vafaei, "Performance of reinforced concrete buildings and wooden structures during the 2015 Mw 6.0 Sabah earthquake in Malaysia," Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 102, pp. 351–368, Aug. 2019.
H. Liu, "Lessons from Damaged Historic Buildings in the Sichuan Earthquake: A Case Study in Zhaohua, Sichuan Province," Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 9–14, Jan. 2018.
S. Navaratnam, M. Humphreys, P. Mendis, K. T. Q. Nguyen, and G. Zhang, "Effect of roof to wall connection stiffness variations on the load sharing and hold-down forces of Australian timber-framed houses," Structures, vol. 27, pp. 141–150, Oct. 2020.
O. H. Abdullah and W. A. Hatem, "Assessing Critical Criteria for Historical Archeological Buildings in Iraq," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 9229–9232, Oct. 2022.
A. R. Khoso, J. S. Khan, R. U. Faiz, M. A. Akhund, A. Ahmed, and F. Memon, "Identification of Building Failure Indicators," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 4591–4595, Oct. 2019.
J. H. Negrão, "Rehabilitation of the Roof Timber Trusses of a Multiuse Pavilion," Civil Engineering Journal, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 2437–2447, Dec. 2020.
M. Corradi, A. I. Osofero, and A. Borri, "Repair and Reinforcement of Historic Timber Structures with Stainless Steel—A Review," Metals, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2019, Art. no. 106.
M. A. Parisi and M. Piazza, "Restoration and Strengthening of Timber Structures: Principles, Criteria, and Examples," Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 177–185, Nov. 2007.
M. Drdacky and S. Urushadze, "Retrofitting of Imperfect Halved Dovetail Carpentry Joints for Increased Seismic Resistance," Buildings, vol. 9, no. 2, Feb. 2019, Art. no. 48.
Z. Martin and F. D. Heidbrink, "Timber Truss Bolted Connection Repair and Full-Scale Load Testing," Structure, 2018.
S. Stiemer, S. Tesfamariam, E. Karacabeyli, and M. Popovski, "Development of Steel-Wood Hybrid Systems for Buildings under Dynamic Loads," in STESA, Santiago, Chile, Jan. 2012.
E. Zurnaci, H. Gokkaya, M. Nalbant, and G. Sur, "Three-Point Bending Response of Corrugated Core Metallic Sandwich Panels Having Different Core Configurations – An Experimental Study," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 3981–3984, Apr. 2019.
A. Awaludin and W. Smittakorn, "Flexural Resistance of Steel to Wood Connection with Various Multiple-Bolt Configurations," in The Seventeenth KKCNN Symposium on Civil Engineering, Thailand, Dec. 2004.
L. Li, J. Qu, and X. Liu, "Failure analysis of single-bolted joint for lightweight composite laminates and metal plate," IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 284, no. 1, Jan. 2018, Art. no. 012027.
M. Mohammad and J. H. Quenneville, "Bolted woodsteel and woodsteelwood connections: verification of a new design approach," Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 254–263, Apr. 2001.
N. Dourado, F. G. A. Silva, and M. F. S. F. de Moura, "Fracture behavior of wood-steel dowel joints under quasi-static loading," Construction and Building Materials, vol. 176, pp. 14–23, Jul. 2018.
T. Uibel and H. J. Blaß, Load Carrying Capacity of Joints with Dowel Type Fasteners in Solid Wood Panels. Florence, Italy: International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, 2006.
Z. H. Bian, T. C. Wang, S. Y. Zhao, and X. G. Li, "A Study on Node Connection Technology of Wood Structure," Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 405–408, pp. 3094–3098, 2013.
SNI 7973: Design specifications for wooden construction. Indonesia: National Standardization Agency, 2013.
SNI-03-3399 Method for testing tensile strength of wood in the laboratory. Indonesia: National Standardization Agency, 1994.
SNI-03-3958: Method for testing the compressive strength of wood in the laboratory. Indonesia: National Standardization Agency, 1995.
SNI-03-3959 Method for testing the flexural strength of wood in the laboratory. Indonesia: National Standardization Agency, 1995.
SNI-07-2529 Test method for tensile strength of steel. Indonesia: National Standardization Agency, 1991.
E. Gavanski and G. A. Kopp, "Fragility Assessment of Roof-to-Wall Connection Failures for Wood-Frame Houses in High Winds," ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering, vol. 3, no. 4, Dec. 2017, Art. no. 04017013.
S. Bhandary, "Numerical Performance Evaluation of the Wooden Frame Structures with Adhesive Applied Connection under Wind and Seismic Loading," M.S. thesis, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, 2020.
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Ketut Sulendra, Gidion Turu’allo, Atur Siregar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after its publication in ETASR with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
