• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.2 s.130
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• pp.8-16
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• 2005

In an effort to encourage the development of value added engineered applications for small diameter round timber, research is being conducted to develop and verify design guidelines for connections with specific application to round timbers. The objective of this research is to provide potential users with a number of viable connection options applicable in the fabrication of engineered, round wood structural components and systems. Target uses include trusses, built up flange beams and space frames. This paper presents information on a mortised steel plate connection fabricated using powder driven nails in 6 cm diameter Japanese Larch. The design load for PDN connections are around 1.3 kN per nail with strip and 0.8 kN per nail without stripe. The design model for PDN connectors could be chosen by the number of nails. If the number of nails are more than the critical number between nail bearing and wood failure, the wood failure model could be the way to design the structure safely. The wood failure model needs to be studied more but the model could be the tensile and cleavage mixed failure model.