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Bolted Joints For Small and Medium Reticulated Timber Domes
Bolted Joints For Small and Medium Reticulated Timber Domes
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43452-020-00073-7
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Received: 4 February 2020 / Revised: 24 April 2020 / Accepted: 28 May 2020 / Published online: 10 June 2020
© Wroclaw University of Science and Technology 2020
Abstract
This paper proposes a new type of bolted glulam joint for small-span and medium-span reticulated timber dome structures.
The joint fastens the timber elements and the angled slotted-in steel plates together with steel bolts. Reasonably simplified
experiments were designed and conducted to understand the mechanical properties of the proposed joint. Finite element
models were also developed and calibrated with the tested results. A four-line model was provided to explain the mechanical
properties of the joints, which were observed from the tests and simulations. To facilitate the future use of the proposed joint,
theoretical derivations were provided to estimate its mechanical features. According to the estimation equations, bilinear
moment–rotation curves could be easily obtained for the joints with different wood species, member sizes, joint designs,
and/or bolt diameters. Finally, full-size structural models were created to investigate the static stability of K6 single-layered
reticulated timber domes with the proposed joints. The influences on the ultimate structural stability capacity from the span,
the rise-to-span ratio, the joint model (i.e., stiffness), the initial geometric imperfection introduced from the construction,
and the load distribution were systematically investigated.
Keywords Reticulated dome · Timber structure · Spatial structure · Bolted joint · Stability analysis
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by the heavy industry products such as steel or concrete plywood panel dome structures were investigated and the
[19, 20]. Consequently, the reticulated timber domes are structural performance under static loads was simulated
also becoming more popular over the recent years [21, 22]. [29]. Recently, a group of European scholars systematically
The world-famous timber domes include but are not limited studied the timber grid shells. Their work first explored the
to the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, USA [23]; form finding and structural analysis algorithms [30], based
the Saldome 2 in Aargau, Swiss [24]; the wooden domes on which a full-scale structure was designed and constructed
in Brindisi, Italy [25]; and the Odate dome in Odate, Akita, [31].
Japan [26]. Not only the architectural beauty of timber The reticulated timber dome structures are advantageous
domes is widely appreciated by architects, their structural as they are renewable, aesthetically attractive, and that they
performances such as the lightness and ease of construc- could be easily assembled. The metallic joints connecting
tion are also favorable to structural engineers. Early studies the timber members are crucial components that have sig-
started from multiple-layered timber spatial structures [27, nificant impacts on the overall structural performance. Based
28]. Simplified material models such as the linear and the on different architectural designs, a few types of joints were
elasto-plastic constitutive models were developed to esti- developed for reticulated timber domes. Figure 1a is a ten-
mate the structural responses. Then, the estimated responses don embedded timber joint (referred as TET joint hereaf-
were compared with experiments and/or numerical models ter) [32]. The Saldome 2 dome is a typical case using such
considering coupled nonlinearity. Later, the timber-framed design. Figure 1b is a steel plate splint joint (referred as SPS
Fig. 1 Joints for timber spatial structures, a tendon embedded timber joint [27]; steel plate splint joint; c slotted hole connection system [28]; d
MERO joint
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joint hereafter) that was used in the timber dome in Brindisi, designed and carried out to investigate the semi-rigid prop-
Italy. The TET and SPS joints provide some rotational stiff- erties of the proposed connection considering axial loads.
ness. Hence, these joints are suitable for large-span timber Numerical simulations of the proposed connections were
domes. Nonetheless, their torsional resistances are relatively also provided. Then, a theoretical investigation on the semi-
weak. Also notice that the timber elements for these joints rigidity of the proposed connections was presented. A design
are usually accurately bent into the proposed forms before formula with reasonable accuracy was provided for differ-
the field assembling procedures. Figure 1c is a slotted hole ent joint configurations. Finally, based on the tested and
connection system designed for timber grid shells [33, 34]. simulated results, a few mid-span reticulated timber domes
Figure 1d presents a type of steel MERO joint that could also were hypothetically designed, and the stability of the sample
be used for various timber structural systems. Furthermore, domes was systematically investigated.
the cross-laminated timber (CLT) is used to construct some
of the newest domes [35].
For steel structures, as the joint behaviors could be accu- 2 Joint design and experimental
rately estimated in most cases, the joint performance can investigations
be defined as rigid, semi-rigid, or flexible (close to pinned)
following different definitions of semi-rigidity [36–39]. 2.1 Bolted joints for reticulated timber domes
Comparatively, the reticulated timber spatial structures were
traditionally designed assuming that the joints are ideally The proposed joint includes steel bolts connecting the tim-
pinned or completely rigid, disregard of different joint con- ber members with the angled slotted-in steel plates (referred
figurations. However, for the joints of timber domes, such as BASS joint hereafter), which is shown in Fig. 2a. For
as the TET joints and the SPS joints, their actual behaviors a K6 reticulated dome, the BASS joint contains 6 angled
are usually semi-rigid and do not conform to either of the slotted-in steel plates (shown in Fig. 2b). To construct a
two extremes. Focusing on this problem, the semi-rigidities reticulated dome, the steel plates are cut into the designed
of timber connections [40–43] were recently investigated. angles instead of forming the timber elements with different
This paper proposes a novel bolted connection for small- curvatures. Please notice that the BASS joints are currently
span and mid-span reticulated timber domes. The design of proposed only for small-span or mid-span reticulated timber
the connection considers an angle between the slotted-in domes. With a reduced size of the dome, the aspect ratio and
bolted timber elements and the center steel portion, which the length of the timber elements are smaller such that they
slightly reduces the costs by removing the form curving pro- could be experimentally tested in full size.
cedure of timber elements. With the proposed connection, The dowel-type timber joints are usually not recom-
small or medium reticulated timber domes could be designed mended for the single-layered spatial structures. For exam-
and constructed easily with acceptable prices. First, two rea- ple, the current design practice tends to simplify the flexural
sonably simplified sets of full-scale experimental tests were behavior of the dowel-type joint as a pinned joint. Under
Fig. 2 3D view of the BASS joints designed for the K6 timber domes, a 3D view of the proposed joint, b joint details
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such assumptions, stability is difficult to achieve for single- tested. Four failure modes were observed during the tests,
layered reticulated timber structures. However, discovered which are shown in Fig. 3b. The four modes were: (1) the
in this study, the moment-resisting capacity of the BASS crushing failure, (2) the crush-shear combined failure, (3)
joints is large enough such that they could satisfy the struc- the shear failure, and (4) the end zone failure. The first three
tural demands for the small-span or medium-span reticulated modes were the most commonly observed modes during the
timber domes. tests. The stress–strain curves of the tested specimens are
presented in Fig. 3c. Obvious damage could be captured at
2.2 Material tests the strain level near 0.003. It could also be concluded that
the specimens were not ductile since a few specimens failed
Compressive strength and embedment strength of wood are immediately just after the damages occurred.
two important material properties that have great impacts on Different from the test of compression parallel to the
the overall behavior of the bolted glulam joints. The glulam grain, the specimens with the length of 150 mm and the
used in this study were made of Canadian spruce-pine-fir cross section of 50 mm × 50 mm were designed for the test
(SPF) lumber. The elastic modulus as well as the strength of the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain (fc,⊥).
of the glulam was tested for both the cases parallel (//) and Following the test configuration shown in Fig. 3d, a total
perpendicular (⊥) to the grain. The results from this section number of 30 specimens were prepared and tested. Most of
serve as an important reference for the subsequent studies. the specimens failed with a similar mode, i.e., the crushing
While testing the compressive strength parallel to the failure shown in Fig. 3e. Comparing Fig. 3c, f, it is obvi-
grain (fc,//), the specimens were designed with a length of ous that the performance perpendicular to the grain is more
100 mm and the cross section of 25 mm × 25 mm. The test ductile than that of the performance parallel to the grain.
method of the specimens was designed according to ASTM The embedment strength (also referred to as the dowel-
D143 [44]. The test was displacement controlled. The loads bearing strength) is needed to calculate the load-carrying
were applied at a speed of 0.3 mm/min. The test setup is capacity per shear plane of the bolted connections. A total
presented in Fig. 3a. The compression of the material was number of 15 specimens were prepared and tested to study
measured over a 50-mm area in the center of the tested spec- the embedment strength of the proposed joints. The speci-
imen. A total number of 30 specimens were prepared and mens are illustrated in Fig. 4a. For the two group of tests
Fig. 3 Test setup, failure modes, and tested results of the compression test parallel to the grain
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Fig. 4 Primary failure mode of the specimens in the dowel-bearing strength tests, a parallel to the grain; b perpendicular to the grain
Table 1 Dimensions of embedment strength specimens and summarized. It should be noted that for glulam, clear
Group Diameter of Size of the Width Height Thickness
wood specimens which are smaller than one lamella cannot
the fasteners predrilled give enough information on the load-bearing capacity of the
hole full-scale glulam members. As we have the grade of the glu-
lam, the aim of the tests is to give a comparative information
// 20 22 132 154 50
for the material properties of the material. It should be noted
⊥ 20 22 308 88 50
that the glulam used in this study was made according to
the Chinese standard “Technical Code for Glued Laminated
Timber Structures” [46], in which the strength grade classifi-
(i.e., //and ⊥), the diameter of the fasteners (d), the size of cation of glulam is different from that in the European code
the predrilled hole (d0), and the dimensions of the timber [40]. In general, the strength of the glulam used in China is
specimens are summarized in Table 1. lower than the strength of the glulam used in Europe. Since
The testing method followed ASTM D5764 [45]. The the joint test results were related to the type and strength of
loads were applied at the speed of 1 mm/min. When the the glulam, the results of the material tests are reported in
specimens were loaded parallel to the grain, the failure mode this section to provide the readers with the tested material
included the embedment failure that arrived earlier and the properties. Thus, if a different type of glulam is used by
splitting failure along the grain, as shown in Fig. 4b. When other researchers, a comparison can be made to have an in-
the specimens were loaded perpendicular to the grain, the depth understanding of the performance of the joints.
specimens were undamaged until the occurrence of wood
fiber fracture, as shown in Fig. 4c. The result of the embed- 2.3 Mid‑span reticulated timber domes
ment strength is now listed in Table 2.
The mean values of the test results are summarized and Reticulated timber domes with rise-to-span ratios from
presented in Table 2. Besides the mean values, the standard 1/6 to 1/3 were hypothetically designed. The loads were
deviations and the variable coefficients were also calculated determined by load specifications in China [47]. The dead
Coefficient of 𝜈= S
× 100% 24.07% 10.39% 30.78% 18.19% 5.67% 6.33% 8.38%
X̄
variation
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load was 0.96 kN/m2, and the live load was 0.5 kN/m2. The angles for each of the joints might be different; thus, a quick
wind load form factors were different for the cases when analysis was performed to statistically collect all the angles
the rise-to-span ratio was big or smaller than 1/4, as shown for the joints in the single-layered reticulated dome with 6
in Fig. 5a, b. The seismic design followed the requirements nested rings. Domes with smaller rise-to-span ratios have
specified in [48]. The technical specification of space frame smaller angles. Therefore, The domes with smallest (1/6)
structures [49] was also used for the design of the dome. and largest (1/3) considered rise-to-span ratio was studied.
Meanwhile, as the specification is mainly focused on the As shown in Fig. 7 , no obvious patterns could be found for
steel space frame structures, the technical code of glued the distribution of the angles. However, most of the angles
laminated timber structures was used to design the timber are bounded within the range between 4° and 8°, as shown
elements [46]. Regarding to the joint, two columns of bolts in Fig. 7b.
were used to keep the joint area small. The end and edge dis-
tances were designed to satisfy the minimum code require- 2.5 Test setup
ments. At the structural level, the analysis and design were
done using the software SAP2000. The boundary conditions are very difficult to define espe-
cially for a spatial dome structure test. Since the full-scale
2.4 Joint design sphere test of the dome containing several rings was nearly
impossible to realize in the laboratory, tests were designed
To use BASS joints, a K6 reticulated timber dome contains to obtain the mechanical properties of the joint, mainly
many stiffened hollow steel cylinders. As shown in Fig. 6, the properties of the joints under shear force, axial force,
six timber elements are assembled around each of the stiff- and moment. In fact, out of these properties, the shear
ened hollow steel cylinder with the steel bolted connections. and axial force capacities could be obtained from mul-
Besides, straight timber elements could be used to avoid tiple guidelines in the design codes. Moreover, it should
the form curving procedures for the glulam. An angle was be noted that the test setup used in this study might
designed for each of the timber element. Notice that the cause bending in the joints, which resulted in relatively
Fig. 5 Wind load form factors for timber domes, a rise-to-span ratio of 1/3; b rise-to-span ratio of 1/6
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Fig. 8 Simplification and design of the tested specimens, a stiffened hollow steel cylinder; b steel box; c specimen configuration of J4; d speci-
men configuration of J8
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Fig. 9 Test setup, a testing machine; b configuration of the test specimen; c locations of LVDT; d setup of J4 type joint; e setup of J8 type joint
The global views of the J4 and J8 models are shown in steel elements as main surfaces and the surfaces of the wood
Fig. 12a. The numerical model ignored the imperfection of elements as the slave surfaces. Reference points (RP) were
the wood and the influence from the threads of the bolts. The created for the model to apply the loads and constrains. The
contact surfaces between the nuts and the wood were slightly boundary condition at the end of the beam was set as pinned
increased as the washers were not included in the model. connection. No cracks were predefined in the model. The
Friction contact was defined for the model. Hard contacts mesh details are illustrated in Fig. 12b.
were defined between the bolts and the steel holes. All the Both J4 and J8 models were simulated with the mod-
other contacts were soft contacts, setting the surfaces of the eling details provided above. The loads of the simulated
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Fig. 10 Experimental phenomena and tested results, a failure mode members of specimen J8; e moment–rotation curves of specimen J4; f
of specimen J4; b failure mode of specimen J8; c deformations in the moment–rotation curves of specimen J8
structural members of specimen J4; d deformations in the structural
Table 3 Elastic material Elastic modulus (MPa) Shear modulus (MPa) Poisson’s ratio
properties of the joint and the
weakened material properties Ea1 E2 E3 G12 G13 G23 ν12 ν13 ν23
near the predrilled holes
Joint (global) 14,270 832 832 900 900 90 0.37 0.37 0.38
Hole (local) 760 125 125 134 134 45 0.37 0.37 0.38
a
1 in the subscript stands for the // direction, and 2 and 3 stand for ⊥ direction
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Fig. 11 Demonstration of the
nonlinear material models in
Abaqus model, a tri-linear
material properties for timber
members; b bilinear material
properties for steel members
Fig. 12 Finite element simulation of the glulam bolted connections, a overview of J4 and J8 models; b model meshing
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Fig. 13 Simulated results from the FEM analyses, compared with the tested results, a stress distribution in the timber members; b stress status in
the bolts; c predicted moment–rotation curve of J4; d predicted moment–rotation curve of J8
specimens were also applied on the created reference points. joint behavior by a simplified approach. The bilinear model
Take J8 as an example, the component-level stress is illus- connects the original point on the moment–rotation curves
trated in Fig. 13a, b. For the timber elements, stress concen- with the ultimate point (point C in Fig. 14a). To validate the
tration was observed near the predrilled holes. Meanwhile, accuracy of the simplified bilinear model, a quick analysis
the bolts were under bending, which led to higher stresses at the system level was performed. Specifically, the overall
in the center between the steel plates and the timber mem- buckling forces of two reticulated timber domes (span 30 m
bers. The model predictions of moment–rotation curves for and span 40 m, rise-to-span ratio 1/5) were investigated. A
J4 and J8 joints are presented in Fig. 13c, d. It could be quick comparison of the ultimate buckling capacities is rep-
concluded that the simulation generally captures the trend resented in Table 6. It is shown that the differences between
of the moment–rotation behavior of the joint. In addition, the two models were no more than 6.2%, which proves the
as no cracks were predefined in the model, the simulations validity of the bilinear simplification. The details of the sta-
were stopped before 0.04 rad to avoid the over-estimation of bility analysis will be presented in the last section of this
the moment resistance. paper.
For the four-line model, four phases were observed, as
3.2 Evaluation of semi‑rigid flexural behavior shown in Fig. 14b. The first phase is a short phase called
steel plate squeezing phase. In this phase, most of the bolts
To systematically evaluate the semi-rigidity of the BASS are not contacting the predrilled holes in the timber mem-
joints, two moment–rotation models (shown in Fig. 14a) bers. The moment resistance is provided by the squeez-
were derived based on the test and simulation results. ing between the steel plate and the inner surface of the
The first model is a four-line model, which describes the slot in the timber members. The second phase is the bolt
moment–rotation behavior of the BASS joints by capturing slipping phase during which the bolts start to slip and hit
the underlying mechanics of the components. Meanwhile, the surfaces of the predrilled holes successively. When all
the second model is a bilinear model, which describes the the bolts hit the inner surfaces of the predrilled holes, the
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Fig. 14 Illustration of the
four-line model and the bilinear
model, a four-line model and
bilinear model; b four phases of
the four-line model; c difference
of the four-line curves for the J4
and J8 specimens
Table 6 Difference between the Domes With bilinear model With four-line model Difference (kN/ Percentage
bilinear model and the four-line (kN/m2) (kN/m2) m2)
model in terms of the ultimate
buckling capacities L = 30 m, fH/L = 1/5 33.36 31.41 1.95 6.20
L = 40 m, fH/L = 1/5 16.79 17.63 − 0.84 − 4.80
third phase, namely the dowel-bearing phase, arrives. The 3.3 Theoretical analysis of the load‑resisting
behavior of the BASS joints in the third phase is ductile capacity
and desirable. The last phase is the failure phase when
some large cracks start to occur. Figure 14c shows the dif- This section provides an estimation methodology for the
ference of the four-line curves for the J4 and J8 specimens. load-carrying capacities of the BASS joints. For a slotted-
Such difference is purely caused by the effect of the angle in glulam bolted connection used for timber frames, its
(referred as the arch effect hereafter). Larger angles lead moment capacity could be roughly estimated from a latest
to more obvious arch effects, which increase the initial work [43]. For the BASS joints, however, such estimation
stiffness and provide greater moment resistance during the approach could not be directly applied due to larger axial
bolt slipping phase. Nonetheless, the arch effects become force and the arch effect. This part of the paper proposes
smaller near the failure phase. a modified approach that is more accurate for the BASS
On the other hand, the bilinear model is used as a basic joints.
model to develop the hand calculation method avail- A couple of assumptions were made: (1) The deformation
able in the following section to estimate the semi-rigid within the timber elements are small such that the relative
joint properties. With the proposed hand calculation, locations of the holes do not change; (2) the center steel
the moment–rotation curves of the BASS joints could connector and the steel plates suffer no damage; (3) the rota-
be roughly estimated without doing new experiments or tional strength is influenced by the embedment strength of
simulations. each fastener. The direction of the dowel-bearing force is
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perpendicular to the line between the fastener and the center ⎧ fes ts d (I)
of rotation which is referred to as the CoR hereafter. ⎪ �
4M
⎧ ⎞ f
Multiple existing timber design codes provide the strength
⎛
⎪ ⎪
f t d ⎜ 2+ y,b − 1⎟ + a,b
es s
estimation of the embedment strength and the load-carrying fes dts2 4
⎪ ⎪ ⎜ ⎟
⎪
capacity per shear plane. Four well-known codes to esti-
⎪ ⎝ ⎠
⎪ min⎨ � (II)
mate the embedment strength of glulam bolted connections 4My,b
⎪ ⎛ ⎞
Fv,b = min⎨
⎪
⎪ 1.25 ⋅ fes ts d⎜ 2+ − 1
were systematically compared in a recent work [43]. This
⎟
⎪ ⎪ ⎜ fes dts2 ⎟
study adopts the approach from Eurocode 5 as it provides the ⎪ ⎩ ⎝ ⎠
closest estimation compared with the results of the material
⎪ ⎧ � fa,b
⎪ 2.3 My,b fes d + 4
tests. From the Eurocode, the embedment strength could be
⎪
⎪ min⎨ � (III)
computed according to Eq. (1): ⎪
⎩ ⎪ 1.25 ⋅ 2.3 ⋅ M f
y,b es d
⎩
fe,0 = 0.082(1 − 0.01d)𝜌 (2)
fe,0 My,b = 0.3fu d2.6
fe,90 =
k90
fe,0 (1)
fe,𝜃 = k mod 0.8
F= F = F
k90 sin2 𝜃 + cos2 𝜃 𝛾m v,b 1.25 v,b
k90 = 1.35 + 0.015d
where Fv,b is the characteristic value of the load-carrying
where fe,0 and fe,90 are the embedment strength values paral- capacities per shear plane, which is close to the tested aver-
lel and perpendicular to the grain, unit in MPa; d is the diam- age; fes and ts are the embedment strength and the thick-
eter of the bolt, unit in mm; ρ is the density of the lumber, ness of the side (timber) element; My,b is the yield bending
unit in kg/m3; θ is the angle between the dowel force and strength of the fastener, unit in kN∙m; fa,b is the characteristic
the grain. In addition, out of all the damage modes given in withdrawal capacity of the fastener; fu is the ultimate tensile
the code, three main ductile yield modes were identified for strength of the fastener, unit in MPa; kmod is the duration
the BASS joints. As shown in Fig. 15, the three modes are: and saturation factor, which could be found in Table 3.1
(Mode I) the yield of the wood fibers in contact with the from Eurocode 5; γm is the partial factor for material prop-
fastener in the side timber member; (Mode II) the yield of erties and resistances, which are provided in Table 2.3 from
fastener in bending at one plastic hinge point per shear plane, Eurocode 5. To obtain the design value (F), the character-
and bearing-dominated yield of wood fibers in contact with istic value shall be divided by a factor (i.e., γm/kmod = 1.56
the fastener in the side member; and (Mode III) the yield for this case). Then, the design moment capacity (Md) of the
of fastener in bending at two plastic hinge point per shear joint is the factored summation of the moments provided
plane, with limited localized crushing of wood fibers near from each of the n dowels, which is expressed by Eq. (3):
the shear planes. n
Then, modified from the Eurocode 5, the load-carrying
∑
Md = 𝛷an 𝛷ax Fi ⋅ li (3)
capacities per shear plane corresponding to the three modes i=1
could be calculated following Eq. (2):
where Φan is the coefficient considering the angle of the
joints and Φax is the coefficient considering the axial forces.
It is observed from the test that the angle of the joint could
tsteel slightly increase the moment capacity. Calibrated from the
t1 t1
tested values, Φan is 1.135 and 1.24 for the J4 joints and
the J8 joints, respectively. The coefficient for other BASS
joints with the angles between 4° and 8° could be linearly
interpolated.
The other coefficient, Φax, accounts for the moment
increase due to the effect of axial force. Notice that for the
BASS joints, the axial force keeps changing as the deforma-
tion becomes larger. The coefficient is calibrated from the
simulated results. If the axial forces are not available, this
(a) Failure mode I (b) Failure mode II (c) Failure mode III study recommends a default Φax value of 1.3 for the BASS
joints. With the axial force obtained from the FEM analysis,
Fig. 15 Three ductile failure modes identified for the BASS joints the coefficient could be calculated according to Eq. (4):
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bolted connections has never been clearly defined from the 3.4 Application of the proposed analytical method
existing studies. Shu et al. [43] estimated that the rotation is
usually between 0.04 and 0.05 rad while considering slight To better present the proposed estimation methodology, the
axial forces of the timber members. In this study, θu is assumed moment capacities of three BASS joints were calculated and
to be relevant to three parameters, i.e., the diameter of the bolts presented in this section. Different section sizes, bolt diam-
(d), the width of the BASS joint (i.e., tw in this case), and the eters, and bolt arrangements were designed for three BASS
axial force coefficient Φax. θu becomes larger when the joint joint specimens (i.e., specimens S1, S2, and S3). The dowel
section is wider and/or the bolt diameters are smaller. Larger forces were first calculated to obtain the moment capacities.
axial forces make the timber elements more likely to split, Then, the ultimate rotational deformations were estimated
which also reduces the ultimate rotation. The ultimate rota- for the three BASS joints. As shown in Fig. 17, the first
tion (in the unit of rad) could be roughly estimated by Eq. (7): specimen is same as the tested J4 joint. Besides, the diam-
( ) eters of the bolts for the three joints are 20 mm, 24 mm, and
0.07 10 mm, respectively. The tensile strength of the bolts (fu,k)
𝜃u = 𝛽 × − 0.0005 × d ,
𝛷ax
(7) is 600 MPa. The specific gravity (ρk) is 400 kg/m3. Fur-
thermore, the size of steel predrilled hole (dm) = [23 mm,
{
1.0 tw ≤ 200 mm
𝛽=
1.1 tw > 200 mm 24 mm, 14 mm] and the size of timber predrilled hole
(ds) = [22 mm, 24 mm, 12 mm] for the three designs.
Then, the calculated values for each of the bolts are
presented in Table 7. In the table, Fa is the force adjust-
ing matrix for each of the bolts that was described above;
Fig. 17 Design of the three BASS joints for the example of the implementation of the proposed hand calculation method, a specimen S1; b
specimen S2; c specimen S3
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50
Specimen 1 (J4)
Specimen 1 design
40 J4 tested mean
Specimen 2
Specimen 2 design
30
Mu (kN-m)
Specimen 3
Specimen 3 design
20
10
0
-0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06
θ (rad)
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Semi-rigid
Joints
Rigid
Joints
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Fig. 22 Internal forces of the single-layered reticulated timber dome with BASS joints, a moment diagram; b axial diagram; c out-of-plane shear
diagram; d in-plane shear diagram
overestimation of the buckling capacities. It is recommended Figure 24 shows the ultimate buckling capacity of the
that the rise-to-span ratio is designed in the range between timber domes with different joint stiffness of the BASS
1/4 and 1/3. joints. The joint stiffness was sampled at 0.1 kN m/rad (close
to a pinned joint), 205 kN m/rad, 266 kN m/rad (close to the
4.3 Joint models and rotational stiffness test results), 843 kN m/rad, and over 1000 kN m/rad (close
to rigid joint). The geometric imperfections were fixed at
Shown from the above analysis, the proposed bilinear joint 1/1000. It is noted from the figure that the ultimate buckling
model is a simplified mathematical model that can reason- capacities of the domes increased with the increase of the
ably represent the rotational behavior of the proposed joints. joint stiffness. The pinned joints lead to extremely low buck-
Specifically, the elastic joint stiffness is determined by the ling capacities for both the 30-m and 40-m domes.
timber material, the bolts, and the design of the joint. In this The ultimate buckling capacities could improve signifi-
section, the joint models of the timber domes were assigned cantly when some semi-rigidity (i.e., 205 kN m/rad) was
with different elastic stiffness to explore their influences on considered. In addition, increasing the joint rotational stiff-
the structural stability. ness from 266 to 843 kN m/rad only marginally increases
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Fig. 23 The impact of rise-to-span ratio on the ultimate buckling capacity, a span = 30 m; b span = 40 m
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 21 of 24 73
the ultimate buckling capacity. If the semi-rigidity could be imperfections as global stability of the domes are sensitive
considered in the model, there is no need to significantly to them.
enhance the joint for higher buckling capacities.
4.5 Load distribution
4.4 Geometric imperfections
The live loads and the dead loads on the reticulated domes
The geometric imperfections of civil structures are unavoid- are usually distributed loads. The full-span dead load (pDL)
able due to the manufacturing and assembling errors. To of the single-layered reticulated timber domes contains
consider these geometric imperfections, consistent mode not only the loads from structural components, but also
imperfection method was commonly used while analyzing the loads from the roof, the lightening, the facilities, etc.
the stability of the spatial structures. The geometric imper- In this study, pDL is first fixed at 0.96 kN/m2. In addition,
fections can be determined by the least eigenvalue buckling a half-span live load, pLL, was considered and its magni-
mode and the maximum amplitude of the imperfections. In tude was set as 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100% of the dead load.
this study, a few amplitudes of imperfection were selected The loads were applied on a 40-m span reticulated timber
as: 0, L/3000, L/1500, L/1000, L/500, and L/300. dome. The geometric imperfections were fixed at L/1000.
The influence of geometric imperfections on the ulti- Then, the influence of load distribution on the ultimate
mate buckling capacity of the reticulated timber domes with buckling capacity is shown in Fig. 26. It could be seen that
proposed semi-rigid joints is shown in Fig. 25. It could be the general trend of the buckling capacities is decreasing
noticed from the figure that the buckling capacities were while increasing the magnitude of the half-span live load.
smaller given larger initial geometric imperfections. In addi- Besides, the largest deformation might happen at differ-
tion, the consideration of joint semi-rigidity also lowers the ent locations. As the loads were changing, the buckling
stability capacities of the domes. Such effect is slightly more modes might also change, especially with the rigid joint
significant for the domes with smaller spans than those with assumption.
larger spans. Generally concluded from the figure, larger rise-to-
It is also noticed that when the amplitude of geometric span ratios lead to more stable reticulated domes. Besides,
imperfection is larger than L/1000, the domes lose most of smaller live loads are more desired while considering the
their ultimate buckling capacities. Therefore, the geomet- stability of the structure. Furthermore, comparing the
ric imperfections shall be considered while evaluating the results of the 30 m and 40 m domes, the 30 m solution has
stability of the reticulated timber domes with BASS joints. got larger buckling resisting capacities. Most importantly,
Besides, the manufacturing and assembling procedures shall the semi-rigid joint assumption, which is more realistic
be controlled to keep the maximum amplitude of the imper- compared with the rigid joint assumption, leads to much
fections within L/1000. It is recommended to minimize the smaller buckling resistance.
Fig. 25 The impact of geometric imperfections on the ultimate buckling capacity, a span = 30 m; b span = 40 m
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Fig. 26 The impact of load distribution on the ultimate buckling capacity a 30 m span; b 40 m span
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