Structural performance of dowel connections with slotted-in steel plates for mass-timber braced frames
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Timber structures are increasingly used in mid- and high-rise buildings in high-seismic regions due to their structural and environmental benefits. As part of a broader effort to advance mass-timber lateral systems, this study evaluates the structural performance of dowel connections with slotted-in steel plates for use in mass-timber braced frames. A comprehensive experimental program comprising 67 monotonic and cyclic tests was conducted on thirteen connection configurations, varying in the number of dowels and slotted-in plates, fastener spacing and the end distance. Results show that increasing fastener spacing parallel to the grain (from four to seven times the dowel diameter) improves resistance, energy dissipation and ductility in both connections with single and double slotted-in plates, while reducing the risk of premature splitting observed at tight spacing. Double slotted-in plates enhanced resistance and stiffness but reduced ductility and energy dissipation, especially when combined with a larger number of dowels. Comparisons with CSA O86 design revealed unconservative estimates at tight spacing, highlighting limitations in current design provisions. For the first time, damage accumulation was quantified using Kraetzig’s energy-based model, enabling classification of connection performance into qualitative damage levels. These findings provide supporting data for modeling mass-timber braced frames and offer critical insights for future developments of design standards such as CSA O86, particularly regarding spacing rules, ductility, reinforcement strategies, and performance-based design.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".