Finite element modelling of hysteresis, degradation and failure of dowel type timber joints

• A method for macro modelling the behaviour of dowel type timber-to-timber joints is presented.
• One dimensional finite elements are used to link timber (beam) structural members in ANSYS software.
• The hysteretic behaviour, stiffness degradation and failure of the connections is represented.
• A test series was performed to obtain input parameters for definition of the model.

A method for macro modelling timber-to-timber dowel type joints under shear loads using finite elements is presented. The proposed model, which includes a combination of nonlinear one-dimensional elements, is able to properly represent the hysteretic behaviour, stiffness degradation and failure of this type of joints. Experimental data from mechanical tests was used to define the macro model parameters. The proposed methodology does not require a high computational processing cost and, consequently, can be used for the nonlinear analysis of complex structural systems with a large number of connections.