Open Access
ARTICLE
Mechanical Behavior of Light Trusses Made of Poplar Laminated Veneer Lumber and Connected with Bolts and Tooth Plates
Yan Liu1, Yanfei Guo1, Xufeng Sun1,*, Meng Gong2
1 College of Civil Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
2 Wood Science and Technology Center, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
* Corresponding Author: Xufeng Sun. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Bio-composite Materials and Structures)
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(9), 1111-1127. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09575
Received 20 December 2019; Accepted 18 May 2020; Issue published 03 August 2020
Abstract
Poplar Laminated Veneer Lumber (Poplar LVL) is a new type of engineering materials with high strength, good reliability and small variability. Poplar
LVL is manufactured from the fast-growing poplar, which is widely used in
packaging, furniture and others, however, is rarely adopted in construction. In
order to explore the feasibility of poplar LVL trusses in construction of roof, four
4.5-m-span Fink-and-Howe trusses were designed and assembled, which were
made of poplar LVL with bolted- and tooth-plated connections. Vertical static
loading on the upper chord joints of a truss was imposed by self-balancing test
device. The mechanical properties of trusses were examined. The ultimate load,
deformation character and failure mode of each truss were measured, observed
and analyzed. Furthermore, four types of analytical models with different joint
connection assumptions were used to estimate the ultimate load and deflection.
The results showed that the poplar LVL trusses were basically in elastic stage
before the design load was reached, showing good working performance under
the action of design load. The bearing capacity of the trusses of bolted connections was greater than that of the tooth-plated connections. As for the same joint
connection type, the bearing capacity of Fink trusses exceeded that of Howe
trusses. The poplar LVL light trusses of both types of connections showed good
structural performance, which could be reasonably used for building roof systems.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Liu, Y., Guo, Y., Sun, X., Gong, M. (2020). Mechanical Behavior of Light Trusses Made of Poplar Laminated Veneer Lumber and Connected with Bolts and Tooth Plates.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(9), 1111–1127. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09575