Beam‐to‐column joint with steel link for timber structures: system optimization through numerical investigations and design criteria

For the seismic design of dissipative heavy timber frame structures, since timber material has an elastic and fragile behaviour, the dissipative capacity is generally delegated to the steel connections. However, the latter are very important structural elements, which should be preserved by damage. To this purpose, the paper focuses on the design of an innovative beam-to-column timber joint with steel link, which the dissipation function is assumed by the link for. Starting from a parametric numerical analysis aimed at investigating the effects of geometrical and material features on the joint mechanical behaviour, the study proposes a design process based on the application of Capacity Design rules by means of the Component Method aimed at the definition of collapse hierarchy criteria, so that the timber beam and the joint subcomponents are protected from damage. The dissipative joint behaviour, studied by way of monotonic non-linear numerical analyses, confirmed the achievement of the plastic deformation in the link before the failure of the joint subcomponents, validating both the efficiency of the system and the proposed design method. © WCTE 2021. All rights reserved.