Publication Date

Summer 2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Advisor

Kurt McMullin

Keywords

steel strap connectors, wood frame structures

Subject Areas

Civil engineering

Abstract

Metal wood-connection hardware straps are sometimes installed in ways not intended by the manufacturers; in particular, a shear-wall anchor strap which was manufactured to be used in straight alignment to connect a post above a particular floor of a building to a post below that floor may instead be bent and wrapped around a floor beam. Four specimens using steel straps were constructed and tested in order to simulate building situations. The experimental specimens had wooden posts and engineered-wood floor beams, connected by straps, arranged so that the load paths passed through the straps being tested; the control specimens had post-to-post connections. The specimens were tested monotonically by applying tension, in order to determine whether the performance of the straps was altered when installed in bent configurations. Two tests on each of the MSTA36 and CMSTC16 steel straps intended for wood-connection, manufactured by Simpson Strong-Tie, Inc., were performed, and results were measured. No fracture occurred at a strap bend. All specimens showed evidence of post-yield elongation at time of fracture. Neither of the two straps which were wrapped around the floor beam showed any reduction-of-effective-capacity effect due to the bending of the straps at the corners of the beam. The results suggest that metal straps may, in the situation tested, be used effectively in bent and wrapped configurations.

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