Investigations on the Serviceability Limit State of Dowel-Type Timber Connections

Dowel-type steel-to-timber connections are commonly used to transfer a large range of loads. Although they are simple to produce and assemble, the load-carrying behavior and the local stress and strain distribution within the connection area are highly complex. In addition to that, wood is a challenging material from an engineering point of view due to its highly anisotropic structure and behavior and due to its natural origin, which results often in inhomogeneities. The failure characteristics of wood are very different in tension and shear and in compression, where brittle failure and plastic-ductile failure modes occur, respectively. The aim of this thesis is to study the load-carrying behavior of dowel-type steel-to-timber connections in detail. This is achieved by performing experimental tests on single-dowel connections. A large variety of influencing parameters is assessed, which include wood density, connection width, the dowel roughness, and the application of reinforcements in order to prevent brittle behavior. Separate stages in the loading history are identified, starting from an initial consolidation phase, the region of maximum stiffness during load increase, and the point of maximum connection strength. Ductility is of great interest as well as the final failure modes. During the experiments, unloading and reloading cycles are performed, where distinctively higher stiffnesses are observed than during the first loading. The results of the experiments are compared to the design practice in Eurocode 5 for strength and stiffness estimation. Strength prediction is conservative except for slender connections, while stiffness prediction complied with experimental results only for connections of intermediate width. The initial consolidation phase of the experiments is then investigated further. It is concluded, that the properties of the bore-hole surface, where not a smooth but a rough surface with valleys and rifts is encountered, is responsible for the ini