Static and dynamic tests of timber shear walls fastened with nails and wood adhesive

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the seismic behaviour of timber shear walls fastened with nails alone or with nails in combination with wood adhesive. The responses of both types of shear walls were determined under slow, quasi-static racking loads and also under dynamic, earthquake-induced conditions. The experimental results showed that the introduction of the adhesive makes shear walls much stronger but also more brittle than conventional nailed walls. It was observed that shear walls incorporating nails and adhesive behaved almost linearly to failure. To obtain the most out of the adhesive capacity, however, the wood framing should be designed with special attention to the connections between framing members and the anchoring of the wall's base plate. These details control the capacity of the frame to sustain the loads induced by the stiffer adhesive joints. Key words: adhesive, earthquake, tests, timber construction, shear walls, wood.