Axial - Shear interaction on CLT hold-down connections - Experimental investigation

Nowadays, the design of CLT wall connections is based on the hypothesis that hold-down connections are subjected only to tension and angle-brackets only to shear. Nevertheless, experimental investigations on CLT walls under seismic action highlighted that hold-downs may be subjected also to significant lateral displacement, and then to a tension-shear coupled action. The aim of this work is to experimentally investigate the axial-shear interaction in typical hold-down connections. To this purpose, an extensive experimental campaign was conducted with a specific setup allowing to impose prescribed levels of lateral displacement and varying the axial displacement in a monotonic or cyclic way. The test results on 15 specimens are presented here and critically discussed in terms of load-displacement curves, strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, strength degradation and ductility. Moreover, two different approaches for the definition of the connection's yielding limit are used, according to a tri-linear approximation of the experimental load-displacement curve. Forces and stiffnesses provided by these methods are compared with those predicted by code provisions.