Mit Schrauben fügen und bewehren - Langzeitversuche an biegesteifen Rahmenecken im Außenklima

Self-tapping screws as connectors and reinforcements - long-term tests on rigid frame corners in exterior climatic conditions

Since 2006 the Chair for Structures and Structural Design at RWTH Aachen University has been developing connections and reinforcements for structural timber elements using fully threaded self-tapping screws. Rigid frame corners made of glued-laminated timber which were joined with these screws performed exceptionally well in short-term load tests reaching more than 80 % of the load bearing capacity of the beam section itself. The high load bearing capacity of the connection implies a high degree of capacity utilisation both for the bond between screws and timber and the timber section. Regarding creep and fatigue of the bond between fully-treaded screws and timber barely any research has been conducted so far.
Thus in the actual research project the structural behaviour of the rigid frame corners was examined under long-term load in exterior climatic conditions (service class 2). A test rig was set up with two types of rigid frame corners differing in the layout of the screw connection and the load bearing capacity. For a period of two years the corners were monitored under continuous and varying loads. The deformations were measured to evaluate the creep of the screws and the connections. Subsequent to the long-term loading the residual strength of the test specimens was determined in breaking tests. The level of creep deformations and the reduction of the load bearing capacity depended on the degree of capacity utilisation of the connections and the timber section. For the specimens with a high degree of utilisation a decrease of load bearing capacity was observed while the ones with a lower degree of utilisation reached almost the same ultimate loads as with short-term loading.