Abstract

The present paper describes the first steps of the research project by the title “Repair connection with wooden wedged dowels. New and alternative repair method that meets the demands of Monument Protection of built substance’s gentle care and material fairness”. The project aims to develop guidelines for static-constructive use of wood-wood repair connections with wooden wedged dowels. In the research project, the first steps for the description of the mechanical model for the wooden wedged dowels have been approached. Literature about wooden pegs and dowels and built examples of wooden wedged dowels in existing buildings have been analyzed; more, preliminary laboratory tests and FEM simulations have been implemented.In this paper, the results of the preliminary laboratory tests and the parallel development of a FEM model with the aim of describing the deformation behavior of the wooden wedged dowels for the most used wooden species will be presented. The main aims are: a) Analysis of the distribution of the strains / deformations in the dowel and in the connected building components when inserting the wedge. b) Analysis of the risk of opening of cracks in the materials. c) Analysis of distribution of stresses in the dowel and in the connected building elements utilizing FEM modeling calibrated on the experimental results. Thanks to the evaluation of deformation behavior in the proposed geometrical configuration and material combinations of wedge, dowel and connected building elements, it has been possible to understand the general framework of deformation behavior and failure modes for different combinations of timber density of the connection components.