Moment Capacity of Timber Reinforced with Punched Metal Plate Fasteners

When designing timber trusses it is often found that the cross section controlling the dimensions of the top chord is located at a joint with a moment peak. However, the timber volume affected by the moment peak is rather limited and by embedding a punched metal plate in this area a reinforcement of the section is obtained, resulting in a more economic truss design. In order to develop design methods for sections with plate reinforcement, bending tests have been made. The timber is Swedish spruce of strength class K-18(S8) and K-24(S10) with a thickness of 45 mm. The punched metal plate is from Gang-Nail System, type GNA 20 S with a thickness of 1 mm. The tests and the results are described