Behavior of Tenon and Mortise Connections in Traditional Taiwan Timber buildings

Behavior of Tenon and Mortise Connections in Traditional Taiwan Timber buildings

Among the traditional buildings in Taiwan, most of them consist with the timber frame. The connections of the traditional timber frame are various kinds of tenon and mortise. There has been little research and experimentation focused on the mechanical behavior of traditional tenon-mortise connections. Based on that, a total of 15 full-scale specimens were created to test six common tenon-mortise connections in this research. From the result of cyclic loading tests, it was found that the timber connections with tenon-mortise joints have high deformation capacity. The depth of the tenon influenced the moment capacity of the joints. The moment capacity of the joint can be improved by increasing the depth of the tenon. The stepped dovetail is effective in improving the performance of the straight tenon.