SEISMIC TIMBER FRAMES WITH STEEL LINK: MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION THROUGH NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

Since timber has elastic-fragile behavior, for the design of seismic resistant timber frame structures the dissipative capacity is usually concentrated into steel connections. However, these are components with an important role in the structural system, so they should be preserved by damage. To this purpose, with regards to timber framed structures, innovative timber joints with steel link, with a dissipation function based on cycles of plastic deformation, can be introduced. In this context, the paper focuses on the mechanical characterization of a dissipative Moment Resisting Frame (MRF) structure, equipped with steel links at the joints and designed by applying hierarchy resistance criteria. Monotonic non-linear static analysis is performed by using the ABAQUS structural program, aimed at investigating both the global and joints behavior. The results confirmed the achievement of the plastic deformation in the link before joints and timber members failures, validating both the efficiency of the system and the proposed design method.