Short-term strength of glulam rivet connections made with spruce and Douglas-fir glulam and Douglas-fir solid timber

The 1984 edition of the Canadian Standards Association Standard 086 restricts the use of glulam rivets to Douglas-fir– larch glued-laminated timber (glulam) only. This study, undertaken in order to extend the use of glulam rivets to both spruce glulam and solid timber, presents the results from the short-term ramp testing of 33 glulam rivet connections assembled using white spruce and Douglas-fir glulam beams and Douglas-fir solid wood joists. Half of these connections were tested to failure with load applied parallel to the grain of the wood member; the other half were tested with load applied perpendicular to the grain. A species factor of 0.80 is recommended for application to the design values of Douglas-fir–larch glulam rivet connections in order to obtain values for spruce glulam rivet conne-ctions. Also, small (less than 4%) differences were found between the lateral load-carrying capacities of glulam rivet connections made with Douglas-fir glulam and connections made with Douglas-fir solid timber free from major checks and (or) splits. To provide theoretical representations of the load–slip curves of the experimental treatment groups, an exponential function was fitted to the test data. Key words: glulam rivet, timber engineering, fasteners, nails, glued-laminated, wood connectors.