Glued-in Rod CLT Connections With Flexible Polymer Adhesive

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of using flexible adhesives for glued-in rods in cross laminated timber (CLT). In the first series of tests, a rod glued in a CLT panel with flexible adhesive was investigated for its mechanical resistance. The connection was tested in pull-pull configuration using monotonic and cyclic, tensile-only loading. Different glued-in lengths were tested, for which the rod diameter and glue-line thickness were constant. The tests have shown that the adhesive can resist large elastic deformations, while it does not exhibit large energy dissipation capacity. Based on the test results the numerical analyses were performed to study the behaviour of the connection where other parameters were considered. Existing constitutive models available in Ansys software were used to simulate the specific mechanical behaviour of the connection under monotonic loading. The results of the FE model exposed an optimal glueline thickness and glued-in length in relation to the engineering design parameters. The second series of tests were material emission tests, which were carried out in a Micro-Chamber (μ-CTE) with the intention to further explore the feasibility of such connections in terms of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.