New design model for brittle failure in the parallel-to-grain direction of timber connections with large diameter fasteners

Resumen:
Timber connections may collapse in a brittle or in a ductile mode. The calculation models of timber joints are mainly focused on ductile failure mode, since it has been traditionally assumed that brittle failure was avoided by respecting a minimum spacing between fasteners. However, this assumption alone does not guarantee a ductile failure. This paper proposes a new design model dealing with brittle failure modes of timber connections with large diameter fasteners (those protruding the whole thickness of the timber member such as dowels or bolts). A comparison between the proposal and the existing models, using an extensive database of tests, is used to demonstrate the improved accuracy of the proposed design method.