Torsional behaviour of dowel cross-laminated timber (DCLT) crossing areas

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Abstract

Dowel cross-laminated timber (DCLT) is an adhesive-free alternative to conventional cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels which are used for mass timber building construction. In DCLT shear walls, the torsional stiffness of nodal crossing areas is a key input parameter for predicting their lateral performance. This study investigated the torsional behaviour of DCLT crossing areas and compared their performance with conventional CLT. The influence of laminate species and thickness was examined experimentally, while the effects of dowel diameter, number of dowels, and crossing area width were explored through numerical modelling. Torsional tests were conducted on DCLT specimens made from Eucalyptus bosistoana and radiata pine as laminates with the thicknesses of 12, 24, and 36 mm connected by four 12 mm E. bosistoana dowels. The mean torsional stiffness of E. bosistoana DCLT was 74%, 53%, and 45% higher than that of radiata pine DCLT for laminate thicknesses of 12, 24, and 36 mm, respectively, with a coefficient of variation (CoV) of up to 30%. For a given laminate species, increasing laminate thickness led to higher torsional stiffness; however, stiffness gains decreased beyond 24 mm laminate thickness, due to a shift in the governing mechanism from embedment of the surrounding timber to bending of the dowels. This should be confirmed with additional experiments, given the high CoV. A three-dimensional finite element model demonstrated that optimising the number of dowels and crossing area width, rather than solely increasing the dowel size, provides an efficient way for maximising the torsional stiffness of DCLT.

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