Numerical simulation of the fire behaviour of timber dovetail connections

Publication date: March 2018
Source:Fire Safety Journal, Volume 96
Author(s): Rubén Regueira, Manuel Guaita
In this paper, the finite element method (FEM) is used in order to develop a simulation of the mechanical performance of timber rounded dovetail connections between joists and beams under a fire event. The simulation is developed using the commercial FEM software ANSYS, and it is validated using the results of several experimental tests. These experimental tests were performed on spruce specimens as per the European regulations, and lasted for 30 min.The numerical simulation was developed using the methodology supported by the European regulations (Eurocode 5), and consisted of a transient thermal and static structural coupled system.Numerical results show a good agreement with the experimental ones, so ANSYS and the described methodology prove to be good tools to simulate the performance of timber dovetail connections under a fire event. Traditional failure criteria, which are useful at room temperature, such as Tsai-Wu one, are used in the simulation in order to predict the failure time, but it was demonstrated that this failure criterion is useless at high temperatures, as the ones reached under a 30-min fire event.



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