Experiments and reliability analysis on frame-to-sheathing joints in light wood framed shear walls

To exploit the spruce-pine-fir (SPF) panel and the parallel strand bamboo (PSB) panel used in light wood framed shear wall and investigate the lateral behaviors of frame-to-sheathing joints in light wood framed shear wall with different characteristics, the experimental investigation and reliability analysis were carried out under monotonic load. The test configurations included joints with perpendicular-to-framing-grain load or parallel-to-framing-grain load, with SPF sheathing panel or PSB sheathing panel and with nail or screw. The results suggested that nailed joints with PSB panel occurred ductile failure but other joints occurred brittle failure. Moreover, the ultimate bearing capacity and the elastic stiffness of the joints under perpendicular load were higher than that of the joints under parallel load. The use of PSB panel and screw increased the ultimate bearing capacity of the joints. Furthermore, based on Johansen yield theory and experimental results, the reliability analysis was carried out through first-order reliability methods. The results showed that the SPF-nail joints, the PSB-nail joints, and PSB-screw joints achieved the reliability requirements.

Reliability analysis on compression strength property of chinese larch visually-graded dimension lumber

The reliability analysis method was investigated in this study to obtain design values of ultimate compression strength parallel to grain (UCS) of Chinese larch visually-graded dimension lumber of common size. A total of 748 lumber samples of 40 by 90 mm were tested for static full-size compression strength according to Chinese National Standards’ requirements of the reliability index. The goodness of fit for the UCS distribution of four visual grades was analyzed and the first-order second-moment reliability analysis under different load cases was performed based on all the test data. The log-normal distribution was the optimizing fitted distribution of the compression strength of Chinese larch dimension lumber. Design values of the compression strength for grades Ic, IIc, IIIc and IVc were suggested for the minimum reliability index. These design values will be recommended to the standard committee of Chinese National Standards.