<Original>Static Tensile Strength of Wood Butt Joints with Metal Plate Connectors : Effects of Plate Geometry and Specific Gravity of Wood

Abstract

In order to obtain basic design data of wood butt joints with metal plate connectors, static tensile tests were made on the joints connected with sixteen types of plate. Two types of failure mode of joints were observed. In the case when joints failed in withdrawal of the teeth, a linear relationship between ultimate load of joints and specific gravity of wood existed, and strength per tooth increased by about 12 kg with increasing specific gravity by 0.1. In the case when joints failed in tension at the middle of the plate, ultimate load of joints did not depend on the specific gravity of wood but on tensile strength of the plate connector, and strength per tooth decreased with increasing the number of row of the teeth. Transition of these two types of failure mode was found on six rows type of the plate; withdrawal of teeth was observed when the number of row was less than six.