Steel-to-Timber and Timber-to-Timber Simple Shear Connections

The main objective of this manuscript is to present an analytical procedure of steel-to-timber and timber-to-timber connections in simple shear, related to the calculated number of dowels needed. These types of connections need to be assembled by dowel–type fasteners, such as nails, screws, bolts, and dowels. In this work, the connections are fixed with steel dowels. Timber connections made with dowels are a good choice, they look great when compared to screw connections and are rigid because have a tight fit while screws have a loose fit in the hole. Different simplified equations were used to calculate the characteristic load-carrying capacity in simple shear per fastener. These equations are useful in designing connections in simple shear when loaded in tensile and allow calculating the number of dowels needed. To obtain the results for discussion, different parameters were considered: three steel dowel diameters, three applied tensile loads, and three species in homogeneous glued laminated timber, each one with different densities. The discussion of the results shows that the number of dowels increases when the diameter decreases, and the material properties have a lesser dependence on this calculation. Using these simplified equations provides a better and easier understanding of the factors that can affect the behavior of steel-to-timber and timber-to-timber connections in simple shear. The key connection point is the shear capacity and ductility behavior of the screw and or dowel element, as presented in this work.