Assignment 2, K7015B

Connection between gable beam and column

Rémi Dhédin
15 October 2020
Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

Problem
The assignment aim is to design a connection between 2 wood beams as follow:

Lc/c

Figure 1 : Connection to design (source: subject)

With : 𝐿𝑐/𝑐 = 6𝑚 , ℎ = 6 𝑚, 𝑞𝑑,𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 = 3,05 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚−2 , 𝑞𝑑,𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 0,74 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚−2

Dimension of the hall is 𝐿ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 60 𝑚, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 5 × 𝐿𝑐/𝑐 = 30 𝑚

Design will be made following EN 1995 recommendations linked to the Swedish national annex (EKS 10).
In this assignment, glued laminated timber resistance class G30c will be used. Compression properties
are:
𝑓𝑐,0,𝑘 = 24,5 𝑀𝑃𝑎 and 𝑓𝑐,90,𝑘 = 2,5 𝑀𝑃𝑎

The two different steps in the design are following:

• Wind load’s way (for wind and roof loads)
• Connection design (compression members size and mechanical connection design)

I. Load’s way
1. Wind loads
In this part, wind loads only will be firstly considerate.
Wind is blowing on a wall of 60 m by 6 m. Wind stabilising system is only in the gable wall. If intermediary
structures are considered, these ones are not equipped with this system. Thus, they have no resistance
to the wind load, and all loads are distributed in the two gables structures. That give:
𝐿ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙
𝑞𝑑,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑,𝑔𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 = 𝑞𝑑,𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙 × 2
= 22,2 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚−1 , the loads in red on Figure 2

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

C
B
𝛼

𝛽
A D

Figure 2: Gable structure

ℎ
Static equations on beam 1 give: 𝑅1,𝐵,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 = −𝑞𝑑,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑,𝑔𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 = −68,95 𝑘𝑁, the node B is
2.cos (𝛼)
considered as a ball joint.
Then this load is transfer by beam 2 to beam 3 (𝑁2,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 68,95 𝑘𝑁)
Considering that all the wind load is supported by the wind stabilizing system, means that compression in
beam 2 is zero in left part of node C (worst case). Static equations on node C as a ball joint give:
cos(𝛼) cos(15)
𝑁3,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 𝑁2,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 68,95 × = −107,6 𝑘𝑁
cos(𝛽) cos(51,8)
𝑁4,wind = 𝑁2,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 . sin(𝛼) + 𝑁3,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 . sin(𝛽) = 68,95. sin(15) − 107,6. sin(51,8) = −66,6 𝑘𝑁

Normal loads are resumed in Figure 3 :

Figure 3: Loads way on simplified gable structure

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

2. Roof loads
To design the connection, it is now important to add the load from the snow and the roof. If it is considered
a space of 6 meters between columns in all direction, and because the beam is at the end of the hall, the
gable beam will support half of the roof load exerted on the 6 m span (same as considering no roof
stiffness, a secure simplification for the gable beam). So, the load on the gable beam is 𝑞𝑑,𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓,𝑔𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 =
3 × 𝑞𝑑,𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 = 9,15 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚−1.

Reactions on each columns is calculated with Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional
(https://www.autodesk.com/products/robot-structural-analysis) and are given in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Roof loads reactions

So, the load in column (beam 4) because of snow and roof is:
𝑁4,𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 = 64,2 𝑘𝑁

And the final load on the connection it asks to design is:

𝑁4 = 𝑁4,𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 + 𝑁4,𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 = 130,8 𝑘𝑁

II. Connection design

1. Required dimensions of the members to accommodate the connection
As it is said in the assignment subject: “50 % of the load should be taken by bearing (compression
perpendicular to the grain) and the other half by the mechanical connection”. The aim of this part is to
find required dimensions for members to support the 50% of the load (𝐹 = 0,5. 𝑁4 = 65,4 𝑘𝑁)

Dimensions for the column beam will refer to §6.1.4 EN 1995-1.

The condition is: 𝜎𝑐,0,𝑑 ≤ 𝑓𝑐,0,𝑑
𝑓𝑐,0,𝑘 24,5
With: 𝑓𝑐,0,𝑑 = 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝛾𝑀
= 0,8 1,25 = 15,6 𝑀𝑃𝑎 (For 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 : Service class 2, medium term action, Table
3.1 EN 1995-1 and for 𝛾𝑀 : Table 2.3 EN 1995-1)

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

𝑁 65400
That give 𝐴 ≤ 13,4 ⇒ 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛 ≥ 15,6
= 4192 𝑚𝑚2

Dimensions for the gable beam will refer to §6.1.5 EN 1995-1.

𝑁
The condition is: ≤ 𝑘𝑐,90 𝑓𝑐,90,𝑑
𝐴𝑒𝑓

With: (1) Member is on discrete support, and 𝑙 ≤ 400 𝑚𝑚, 𝑘𝑐,90 = 1,75
𝑓𝑐,90,𝑘 2,5
(2) 𝑓𝑐,90,𝑑 = 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝛾𝑀
= 0,8 1,25 = 1,6 𝑀𝑃𝑎

(3) 𝐴𝑒𝑓 = 𝑙 + 2 × 30
𝑁 65400
That give: 𝐴𝑒𝑓 ≥ 𝑘 = 1,75.1,6 = 23357 𝑚𝑚2
𝑐,90 𝑓𝑐,90,𝑑

A 165x115 mm2 connection area gives 𝐴 = 18975 𝑚𝑚2 > 4192 and 𝐴𝑒𝑓 = 28875 𝑚𝑚2 > 23357, so
this cross section is good.
So, with this contact area, column beam width is 115 𝑚𝑚 and gable beam width 165 𝑚𝑚 for pressure
connection resistance.

2. Mechanical connection design

The load the connection will have to support is also 𝐹 = 0,5. 𝑁4 = 65,4 𝑘𝑁
The connection between members will be on this principle:

165 mm

Gable beam

Column

225 mm
115 mm

Figure 5: Connection principle

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

The connection will be made with screws TPT060160 (https://indexfix.com/product/10976-TP-TO-) with

characteristics given in Table 1. Design will refer to §8.7 EN 1995-1.
Table 1: Screws characterisitics

𝑑 (𝑚𝑚) 𝑑1 (𝑚𝑚) 𝑑ℎ (𝑚𝑚) 𝑙 (𝑚𝑚) 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠

6 3,6 12 160 10.9

Because of screws on both side, fasteners will be only axially loaded. (see Figure 6). Force taken by both
√2
sides will be 𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 𝐹𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 = 2
∗ 𝐹 = 46,24 𝑘𝑁

𝐹𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡

𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

Figure 6: Decomposition of the load on both side of the connection

§8.7.1 (2) EN 1995-1 gives different failure modes to check. Because screws are not used with steel plates
and is not in compression only the following failure modes must be checked:
• the withdrawal failure of the threaded part of the screw
To design resistance of one screw in this failure mode, it need to calculate before the penetration length
√2
of the threaded part: 𝑙𝑒𝑓 = (𝑙 − 30) = 117,57 𝑚𝑚
2
1
And the angle between the screw axis and the grain direction is 𝛼 = tan−1 (sin(15°)) = 75,5

𝐹𝑎𝑥,𝑥,𝑅𝑑 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑥,𝑘 𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑓 𝑘𝑑 0,8 15,58 . 6 . 117,57 . 0,75

= = = 5429,5 𝑁/𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝑛𝑒𝑓 𝛾𝑀 1,2 × cos (𝛼) + sin (𝛼) 1,2 1,2 × cos2 (75,5) + sin2(75,5)
2 2

• the pull-through failure of the screw head

𝑓ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑,𝑘 and 𝜌𝑎 are given in the Declarations of Performance provided by the screw manufacturer.
𝐹𝑎𝑥,𝑎,𝑅𝑑 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝜌𝑘 0,8 0,8
= 𝑓ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑,𝑘 . 𝑑ℎ2 . ( ) = . 22,71 . 122 . 1 = 6980,2 𝑁/𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝑛𝑒𝑓 𝛾𝑀 𝜌𝑎 1,2

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

• the tensile failure of the screw

𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠,𝑘 is given in the Declarations of Performance provided by the screw manufacturer.
𝐹𝑡,𝑅𝑑 𝑘𝑚𝑜𝑑 0,8
= 𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠,𝑘 = . 14,65 = 9770 𝑁/𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝑛𝑒𝑓 𝛾𝑀 1,2

So finally, the load resistance per screw is the minimum value of the three values above: (withdrawal
failure of the threaded part of the screw)
𝐹𝑡,𝑑
= 5,43 𝑘𝑁/𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝑛𝑒𝑓

The effective number of screws is as follow:

𝐹 46,24
𝑛𝑒𝑓 = = = 8,51 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝐹𝑡,𝑑 5,43
If screws are arranged in three rows of four units,
𝑛𝑒𝑓 = 3 × 40,9 = 10,44 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑠 > 8,51

So that arrangement fit.

This part of EN 1995-1 give also the minimum spacings as:

𝑎1 = 7𝑑 = 42 𝑚𝑚 ; 𝑎2 = 5𝑑 = 30 𝑚𝑚 ; 𝑎1,𝑐𝑔 = 10𝑑 = 60 𝑚𝑚 ; 𝑎2,𝐶𝐺 = 4𝑑 = 24 𝑚𝑚

Geometry requirements on connection are presented in Figure 7:

Figure 7 : Spaces recomendations

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Assignment 2, K7015B Connection between gable beam and column

So, the gable beam for the connection must be at least 335 mm high, that lead to choose a 360 mm high
beam. In real design conditions, the beam high may be upper because of loads applying in the span (This
is not studying in this assignment).

Conclusion
To support the loads, the connection must be as follow: (dimensions are in mm and not in right
proportions)

Figure 8: Connection dimensions

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