Laminated bamboo can be produced in sizes that are similar to glued laminated timber. Asaresult, large connections with multiple dowels and slotted-in steel plates are similarly possible with bamboo. MOSO bamboo was used in this study, withadensity of around 660 kg/m³, potentially creating connections having higher load carrying capacity than softwood. A large experimental campaign was set-up in order to determine the mechanical properties of connections with various ratios of dowel diameter to bamboo thicknesses and with single and double steel plates. Furthermore, influences of the density of the material, related to the embedding strength for fasteners, as well as the splitting sensitivity with multiple fasteners inarow are playing crucial roles with respect to the load carrying capacity. Therefore, multiple test series on large bamboo connections have been performed in order to study various possible failure modes, as dependent on embedding strength, steel grade, number of fasteners inarow, and the influence of multiple steel plates. The various failure modes have been analysed analytically with the Johansen equations, similar to the design equations proposed for the upcoming version of Eurocode 5 for multiple steel plate connections, confirming their applicability to bamboo and its similarity with wood.

In the province of Groningen (NL), where human-induced earthquakes take place due to gas extraction, a large part of the building stock is composed of brick masonry walls and timber diaphragms. In this framework, timber-masonry connections play a crucial role in the global seismic response of the buildings, but their properties and structural behaviour have not been investigated yet for the Dutch context. This work describes the experimental campaign conducted at Delft University of Technology to characterize as-built and strengthened timber-masonry connections. The joints were tested under either quasi-static monotonic, cyclic or dynamic loading, to analyse the effect of an induced earthquake signal on the connections’ response in terms of strength, stiffness and damage evolution. The obtained test results provided more insight into the capacity and properties of existing connections, and useful knowledge on the effectiveness of the tested retrofitting methods.

This paper deals with the evaluation of fatigue cracks under a concentrated compression (wheel) load in an I-section with full penetration welds between the web and flange. The objective is to investigate whether cracks stop or nearly stop when they have grown through the residual tensile stress field. These experimental investigations are part of a review of a crane runway girder where after 20 years of service fatigue cracks were observed in the flange at the toe of the full penetration weld. The fatigue analysis of the actual crane runway girder is described in (Wardenier et al., 2017). The fatigue tests under a concentrated wheel compression loading show that, for the specimens considered on a scale of about 1:2 with stiffeners at one side, the cracks only initiate and grow at the non-stiffened side to about 50 to 60% of the web thickness and then stop. Based only on the nominal stress range under the wheel, determined according to EN 1993-6 and neglecting the shear stress effect, an equivalent fatigue class of about 160 N/mm² was found for crack initiation in the web, whereas the minimum ratio in life between visually observed crack initiation and maximum crack length was about a factor 3. Comparison of the codes for a wheel loading in compression shows large discrepancies in effective width and fatigue classes to be used.

This paper is part of an evaluation of fatigue cracks in a crane runway girder with full penetration welds between the web and flange. The fatigue analysis of this actual crane runway girder is described in [1]. The investigation described in this paper deals with additional experimental tests on equivalent welded I sections on scale of approximately 1:2 subjected to a fluctuating line load in compression. The objective of these experimental investigations is to investigate whether cracks stop or nearly stop when they have grown through the residual tensile stress field. The test results show that, in some cases the cracks in the weld, at the weld toe with the web or with the flange initiate and grow from one side to about 50 to 60% of the web thickness and then stop. However, at the weld toe with the flange the cracks grow sometimes from both sides but with the cracks at one side having a small length and/or a small depth. The minimum ratio in life between crack initiation and maximum crack was a factor 1.2 for cracks occurring at one side only and 1.5 to 3.1 for cracks at both sides.

Slip-resistant connections are always used when slip and deformation in a bolted connection must be avoided at all costs, e.g. in radio masts and bridges. For some popular surface treatments, slip factors are given in EN 1090-2, the execution standard for steel structures. For those surface conditions not considered in EN 1090-2, the slip factor can be determined experimentally according to Annex G of EN 1090-2. By reviewing slip factor values obtained with the Annex G test procedure and reported in the literature, it becomes obvious that in most cases the slip factors achieved experimentally are not comparable for identical surface conditions. This is potentially caused by different interpretations of the Annex G slip test procedure. As the slip factor is one of the main parameters influencing the bearing capacity of slip-resistant connections, its determination should be on the safe side and not dependent on the various interpretation possibilities of the test procedure itself. For this reason, the optimization of the Annex G test procedure was thoroughly investigated in the European RFCS research project SIROCO, with the final objective being to enhance its reliability. The focus was on investigating the various test parameters such as type of preload measurement, ascertaining the possible slip planes, test speed, position of slip measurement, clamping length, preload level, evaluation of critical slip load and the performance of the extended creep test. The results achieved in these investigations have already been partly implemented in the revision of the current draft version of EN 1090-2.

The current shear strength values for high density tropical hardwoods are very low compared to the values for softwoods, according to European strength class tables. The reason for this is that standardized tests according to European standard EN 408 have not been performed yet for tropical hardwoods. In this research, tropical hardwood species massaranduba was investigated according to EN 408. The test results give a 5%-value for the shear strength of massaranduba that is twice as high as the standardized value for strength class D70. No relation was found between the density and the shear strength for massaranduba. Shear strength was proportional to the density when compared to spruce.