Development of a hybrid steel-concrete joint for discrete reticulated timber structures

The main objective of the proposed research project is to develop a new multi-purpose hybrid joint for discrete reticulated timber structures to reduce steel consumption while providing the necessary mechanical properties by combining advances in design, manufacturing and experimental and computational analysis of their mechanical behaviour under different loads. Thin-walled steel sections with concrete infill will be used instead of thick-walled hollow steel sections or even solid steel geometric bodies. Plain concrete and concrete with steel or polymer macro fibres will be considered for the infill. Different configurations of new joints for discrete reticulated timber structures will be considered, all of which will employ a steel cylinder with concrete infill. Based on experimental and computational analysis, the aim is to describe the new joint behaviour by simple expressions that allow the joint compliance (with point stiffnesses) to be considered in beam finite element models and assure applicability in the current structural design practice. In the final stages of the proposed research project, guidelines for using the new joint in modern reticulated discrete timber structures will be defined. A practical example of a reticulated discrete timber structure design with new joints will be studied and presented as part of the proposed research project. Advanced digitalisation technologies (3D scanning, virtual/augmented reality) will be incorporated into the design. The influence of different configurations of the new joint on the global behaviour of the selected structure will also be studied.