The shear strength and failure modes of timber joists obtained from the torsion test method.

Research Output

This paper presents details of the experimental method and test results from a series of torsion tests undertaken to evaluate the shear strength of timber joists. The failure modes and the correlation of shear strength and torsional shear modulus were also studied. Test results obtained indicate that shear strength of tested joists was higher than the published values in EN 338 and in the USDA Wood Handbook. The test joists fractured mostly at the middle with cracks propagated towards either supports or edges. However, combined tension shear and crushing failure modes were sometimes observed at supports. A good correlation was found between torsional shear strength and the shear modulus, but, it appeared that knots do not have substantial influence on the shear strength. The recent revision of the testing standard EN408 includes the torsion testing approach to obtain the shear modulus of timber. It is proposed that a torsion test also be adopted as a method for evaluating the shear strength of timber

Date:

31 December 2010
Publication Status:

Published
Publisher

Trees and Timber Institute, National Research Council
Library of Congress:

TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Dewey Decimal Classification:

624 Civil engineering
Funders:

Historic Funder (pre-Worktribe)

http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/output/208360 <p>Khokhar, A. M., Zhang, H., & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2010). The shear strength and failure modes of timber joists obtained from the torsion test method. In A. Ceccotti (Ed.), <i>11th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2010 (WTCTE 2010)</i> (3509-3516)</p>

Citation

Khokhar, A. M., Zhang, H., & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2010). The shear strength and failure modes of timber joists obtained from the torsion test method. In A. Ceccotti (Ed.), 11th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2010 (WTCTE 2010) (3509-3516)