Improvement on Moment Resistance of a Concealed Timber Post Base Joint

In this paper, experimental results were presented on the moment resistance of a concealed timber post base joint aimed at replacing in a modern design introduced lately the wood to wood joints used in the traditional Korean timber house - Hanok. Preliminary results showed that the original configuration of the joint offers a limited moment resistance and a low ductility and energy dissipation. In an attempt to mitigate those limitations without undergoing major changes in the connector, three new configurations were proposed and investigated. Motivated by the wish to prevent the early failure in welds, a first approach consists in directly bolting the connector's upper plate to lower the stress on the weak welds. Alternatively, another approach focused on increasing the strength of these welds by extending their length to the full width of the metal wings. Finally, a third configuration investigated the effect of those two approaches combined. In conclusion, reinforcing the welds found out to be the best option among the presented ones. As a result, this connector considered to show proper ability for use in earthquake-resistant structures with suited lateral-resistant structural elements.