Strength and stiffness of all-timber pegged connections

Traditional green oak timber construction, in which frames are connected with the all-timber pegged mortice and tenon joint, is enjoying a revival in the United Kingdom and the United States. However, innovation in design and construction is restricted by a lack of design guidelines or methods for the strength and stiffness analysis of traditional carpentry connections and frames. This paper presents the development of models to predict the stiffness and strength of all-timber pegged mortice and tenon connections as used in traditional green oak carpentry in the United Kingdom. Models developed based upon experimental observations and finite-element modeling are shown to provide simple and effective methods of predicting pegged connection strength and stiffness based upon an energy approach and a four-point beam bending analogy respectively.