Shear performance of a novel non-metallic cross-laminated timber wall-to-wall connection using double-dovetail mortise-tenon joint

Wood structure is becoming more prevalent than ever for the sustainability of civil engineering due to its green and renewable characteristics. The mortise-tenon joint is a traditional wooden connection but emerges with prominent advantages over that using metal connectors in the recycling process. This paper proposed a novel double-dovetail mortise-tenon joint, made of laminated veneer lumber, to connect cross-laminated timber (CLT) wall panels. The out-of-plane shear performance was investigated by monotonic and cyclic loading tests with a total of nine specimens in three groups. The failure modes, stiffness, strength and stiffness degradations, ductility and equivalent viscous damping ratios were discussed and analyzed. It was found that the dominant damage would transfer from the double-dovetail tenons to the CLT panels, when the ratio of the tenon head width to the panel thickness increased. In particular, the stiffness, maximum load and ductility of the joints decreased firstly and then showed an increase when the ratio increased from 0.6 to 0.67 and 0.75, respectively. The strength and stiffness degradations generally decreased when the ratio increased. In addition, the equivalent viscous damping ratio showed a transient fluctuation at the beginning, and increased with the damage accumulation, indicating more energy dissipation under seismic conditions.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the performance of a novel double-dovetail mortise-tenon joint and compares it with metal connectors. The study finds that the stiffness, maximum load, and ductility of the joint exhibit specific patterns with respect to a certain ratio. Additionally, the joint demonstrates better energy dissipation capability under seismic conditions.