STRESS, DISPLACEMENT JOINTS OF GMELINA ARBOREA AND TECTONA GRANDIS WOOD WITH METAL PLATES, SCREWS AND NAILS FOR USE IN TIMBER TRUSS CONNECTIONS

ABSTRACT In countries like Costa Rica, there is an interest in developing wooden trusses in a versatile and light way. However, there is a key aspect in the behavior of truss connections in this product. Therefore, the present study determines the structural behavior of the truss connections and the displacement, the resistance, the stiffness values and the failure mode of truss connections made with Gmelina arborea and Tectona grandis timber for angles of 0° and 90°; and three types of truss connectors (metal plates, screws and nails), subject to tension and compression loads. The results showed that metal plates show the highest load values with respect to the nails and screws in both species. Likewise, in the design and critical displacement stress, metal plates surpass the nails and screws in both species; and in the two angles. From these stress values, we proposed a model for the prediction of the stiffness for the truss connections of the intermediate angles (30°, 45° and 60°) and the test showed that the prediction was low, the bias was 3%.