Characterization of bearing strength factors in pegged timber connections

A consistent design approach for pegged timber framed connections can be developed by modifying the current National Design Specification for Wood Construction to account for the lower bearing and bending strength of the wood connectors. This paper addresses the bearing strength of white oak dowels in both red oak and Douglas fir Specimens. The effects of peg strain orientation, peg diameter, peghole clearance, specimen grain orientation, and specimen wood species were studied. A modified beating strength test was developed to eliminate localized crushing of the white oak dowel by the test machine. Bearing strength tests were performed on 183 wood specimens. The bearing strength of pegged connections was found to be relative insensitive to the factors investigated and lower than bearing strengths using similar steel fasteners for all test configurations.