PSI - Issue 37

Gonzalo Moltini et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 37 (2022) 417–424 Moltini & Baño/ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000

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Figure 1: Timber to Timber Panels (Baño and Moltini 2021)

2. Methodology The geometry of the connectors and layers of the TTPs was modelled in the finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics (COMSOL Inc., Sweden), using the mesh automatically generated by the software and using tetrahedral elements with a “fine” size. The contact between the layers and the connectors was defined by a “thin elastic layer” of COMSOL, based on the numerical model validated experimentally (Baño and Moltini 2021). An uniform load of 2kN/m 2 simulating the imposed load for a residential use on floors was applied on the upper layer of the panel.

Figure 2: Geometry of the TTP modelled

Starting from an original parameter set with b 1 =40 mm, α =45º and two connector heights ( h c =40 mm and h c =60mm), new different geometrical parameters of the connectors were computed in the numerical model, as shown in Figure 3. So, the angle of the dove-tail joints ( ) was varied between 30º and 75º; the width of the connector ( b 1 ) between 40 and 100 mm and the height of the connector between 40 and 100 mm; maintaining the distance between the edge of the connector and the dovetail joint (b 2 ) in 20 mm. With these parameter sets, 64 different combinations of connectors’ shapes were defined and introduced into the model. Th e separation of the connectors was 240 mm, the thickness of the layers was 43 mm, and the span considered for the TTPs studied was 2400 m.