Assessment of ductility properties of the connections in a prefabricated timber panel

The results of experimental tests conducted on the joints of a wood-based prefabricated sandwich panel recently developed in Norway are presented. The connections investigated were those involved in constituting the lateral-force-resisting system for a wall assembly, namely the panel-to-sill connections. Several European standards are undergoing a revision process, one of which describes the procedures and methods of assessment of timber joints made with mechanical fasteners, tested under quasi-static cyclic conditions. The objective of this investigation was therefore to compare the current methodologies with those presented in a revision proposal and a third method used in Japan. The revision proposal introduces the concept of strength degradation, which should ensure a large amount of energy dissipation without significant loss of strength when designing structures for earthquake loads. The results of the testing regime are presented and the advantages and disadvantages of the three methods are discussed.