Rope effect in mechanical panel-timber connections: A comparison between screws and dowels

Previous studies have demonstrated the potential of birch plywood as a substitute for steel plates in multi-plane shear connections of timber structures due to, among other things, its low environmental impact, better workability, and relatively low cost. However, models in modern building codes, such as Eurocode EN1995–1 (EC5), can be used to determine the load-carrying capacity of timber connections with up to two shear planes. Furthermore, some studies have shown that EC5 design model tend to underestimate the actual load-carrying capacity of timber connections. Therefore, there are some uncertainties concerning suitable design models to assess the load-carrying capacity of such connections. This study was preliminary conducted to shed light on the reasons for such discrepancies, conducting several experiments on both doweled and screwed birch plywood-to-timber connections, with either two or four shear planes. The analytical load-carrying capacities estimated by EC5 showed underestimation of the experimental results, with greater underestimation when fully threaded screws are adopted as fasteners, rather than smooth dowels. Furthermore, regardless of the type of fastener, a substantial discrepancy between EC5’s prediction and experimental results was observed when the number of shear planes was increased from two to four. The results of the investigations indicate that the main cause of the discrepancies might be associated with the so-called “rope effect” which is taken into account by EC5’s design approach in an over-conservative manner. • Plywood-timber mechanical joints with multiple shear planes. • Analytical estimations of shear capacity and stiffness compared to experiments. • Rope effect resulted in the underestimation of the screw connections' capacities. • The fasteners' internal tensile force shifts the location of the plastic hinges. • The test capacity of four shear plane connections is almost double the estimations.