Behaviour of screw connections in timber-concrete composites using low strength lightweight concrete

Abstract

In this paper, the use of low strength lightweight concrete in combination with glue-laminated timber (TLCC) is studied. Six series of push-out tests were conducted to assess the mechanical performance of the screw shear connection between these materials with a perpendicular and inclined (shear-compression) configuration with various screw diameters and lengths. The tests show that though low strength lightweight concrete is used, composite action can still be obtained. Given the equivalent Young’s modulus between the concrete and the timber, a proposal is made consisting in the use of the design approach for timber-to-timber connections in order to determine the load capacity of the tested connections, contrary of what is commonly used in the literature. The comparison with experimental tests confirm the proposed approach.