Hi friends,

Today is already episode #18 of the timber design series.

In the previous episodes we learned how to verify timber elements for bending, shear, torsion, etc.

We also learned how to verify timber elements like slabs, walls and beams. I showed you how to verify timber slabs for vibration (you'll find the links to the previous articles in the end of this e-mail).

These verifications are only the basics of timber design, because the most critical and challenging part of timber design is the connection design.

If you are inexperienced with timber design, you often verify all timber elements for bending, shear, deflections, etc. and once you get to the connection design, you realise that you have to increase the cross-section of the timber elements because the connections don't verify.

I have been there a few times when I started my structural engineering career.

Timber connection design is quite complex, because there are many fasteneres we can choose from like screws, nails, bolts, dowels, timber-timber-connections, timber-steel-connections and all of these connections are verified with different formulas.

So today, I'll give a quick introduction to connection types and what we'll cover in the next weeks.

Overview of connection types and what we'll cover in the next few weeks

In general, timber connections have a shear and a tensile capacity.

We'll cover the calculation steps of the shear and tensile capacity for the different connectors and connection types in separate articles.

• Shear capacity of screws
• Shear capacity of nails
• Shear capacity of bolts
• Shear capacity of dowels
• Shear capacity of stapled connections
• Tensile capacity of screws
• Tensile capacity of nails
• Tensile capacity of bolts
• Tensile capacity of dowels
• Tensile capacity of stapled connections

After that, we'll run through some connection examples like:

• Timber-timber hinged connection
• Timber-steel hinged connection
• Moment stiff frame corner
• Reinforcement to increase the capacity perpendicular to the grain
• Connections from manufacturers like Simpson Strong Tie, Rothoblaas, Würth

Final Words

Today was a short newsletter. But it's important to give an overview to timber connection design as it can get overwhelming.

Enjoy the rest of the week and your weekend.

Let’s design better structures together,

Laurin.

P.S. If you want to learn more, here are a few ways I can help you:

#1: I teach you everything you need to know about load calculation. It's the most important fundamental of structural engineering. ​Without knowing the loads of a building, you can't design the structural elements. Click → here ← to learn.

#2: Previous episodes of the timber design series:

• Ep. #1: Welcome to the timber design series (click here)
• Ep. #2: Timber material properties (click here)
• Ep. #3: Tension verification of timber (click here)
• Ep. #4: Compression verification of timber (click here)
• Ep. #5: Bending verification of timber (click here)
• Ep. #6: Compression perpendicular to the grain (click here)
• Ep. #7: Shear verification (click here)
• Ep. #8: Deflection verification (click here)
• Ep. #9: Torsion verification (click here)
• Ep. #10: Lateral torsional buckling (click here)
• Ep. #11: Timber beam design (here)
• Ep. #12: Timber column design (here)
• Ep. #13: Vibration analysis of timber floors (here)
• Ep. #14: Timber joist floor (here)
• Ep. #15: CLT floor (here)
• Ep. #16: Timber stud walls (here)
• Ep. #17: CLT wall design (here)

#3: The reinforced concrete series (click here)

#4: The engineering mechanics series (click here)

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