Behavior of Timber Pile-to-Cap Connections under Cyclic Lateral Loading

Abstract

The pile-to-cap connection is a critical region in the structure that may experience inelastic behavior during severe earthquake ground motions. Although timber piles are extensively used in construction, little research has been devoted to studying the behavior of timber pile-to-cap connections under cyclic lateral loading, or to develop an improved understanding of the seismic design requirements of these connections. This paper presents an experimental investigation to assess the strength capability of timber pile-to-cap connections. The experimental study was conducted on full-scale timber specimens with different embedment lengths of the pile into the concrete beam. On the basis of the experiments, a theory to predict the lateral capacity of such connections was developed. The study highlighted the significance of wood compression perpendicular to the grain, wood hardness, and embedment length of pile into cap in evaluating the performance of such connections under lateral loads.