Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43452-020-00073-7

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Bolted joints for small and medium reticulated timber domes:

experimental study, numerical simulation, and design strength
estimation
Zhan Shu1   · Zheng Li2   · Minjuan He2 · Fei Chen2 · Chao Hu2 · Feng Liang2,3

Received: 4 February 2020 / Revised: 24 April 2020 / Accepted: 28 May 2020 / Published online: 10 June 2020
© Wroclaw University of Science and Technology 2020

Abstract
This paper proposes a new type of bolted glulam joint for small-span and medium-span reticulated timber dome structures.
The joint fastens the timber elements and the angled slotted-in steel plates together with steel bolts. Reasonably simplified
experiments were designed and conducted to understand the mechanical properties of the proposed joint. Finite element
models were also developed and calibrated with the tested results. A four-line model was provided to explain the mechanical
properties of the joints, which were observed from the tests and simulations. To facilitate the future use of the proposed joint,
theoretical derivations were provided to estimate its mechanical features. According to the estimation equations, bilinear
moment–rotation curves could be easily obtained for the joints with different wood species, member sizes, joint designs,
and/or bolt diameters. Finally, full-size structural models were created to investigate the static stability of K6 single-layered
reticulated timber domes with the proposed joints. The influences on the ultimate structural stability capacity from the span,
the rise-to-span ratio, the joint model (i.e., stiffness), the initial geometric imperfection introduced from the construction,
and the load distribution were systematically investigated.

Keywords  Reticulated dome · Timber structure · Spatial structure · Bolted joint · Stability analysis

1 Introduction Meanwhile, domes built with different types of materials

The single-layered reticulated domes/shells are commonly
seen type of spatial structures. Due to the unique single-
layered feature, some proper structural design and evaluation
become necessary to avoid the damages to the joints and
the members against special loads. Geometric and material
nonlinearities shall be considered [1, 2]. Besides, similar
to other spatial structures, the focal aspects of the single-
layered reticulated domes are the stability analyses against
static [3] and dynamic loads [4], the seismic performance
[5], the progressive collapse mechanism [6], etc.
* Zheng Li
zhengli@tongji.edu.cn
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai University,
Shanghai 200444, China
2
Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University,
Shanghai 200092, China
3
Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.,
Shanghai 200092, China
could provide various aesthetic perceptions. In the structural
respect, many of existing studies investigate the performance
of steel reticulated domes. Different types of joints were
proposed and their semi-rigid characteristics were inves-
tigated. For example, some of the existing joints are the
TEMCOR joint [7], the socket joints [8], the welded hollow
spherical joints [3], the bolted-arm joints [9, 10], the gear
joints [11], and the welded grid shell joints [12]. Besides,
aluminum dome joints were also investigated [13–15], try-
ing to take advantage of the lightness of the material. Zhai
et al. [16] investigated a liquefied natural gas tank structure
with a steel panel covered by the reinforced concrete dome,
which could be considered as a hybrid spatial structure. In
addition, the dynamic behavior of a dome with substructure
constructed underneath was investigated [17]. Considera-
tion of the substructure’s vibration amplifications as well
as the uncoordinated displacement of the sub-columns was
proved necessary [18].
Wood is a unique construction material with a renewable
characteristic that fosters the human–environment, in a way
that it helps to reconstruct the environment contaminated

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by the heavy industry products such as steel or concrete
[19, 20]. Consequently, the reticulated timber domes are
also becoming more popular over the recent years [21, 22].
The world-famous timber domes include but are not limited
to the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, USA [23];
the Saldome 2 in Aargau, Swiss [24]; the wooden domes
in Brindisi, Italy [25]; and the Odate dome in Odate, Akita,
Japan [26]. Not only the architectural beauty of timber
domes is widely appreciated by architects, their structural
performances such as the lightness and ease of construc-
tion are also favorable to structural engineers. Early studies
started from multiple-layered timber spatial structures [27,
28]. Simplified material models such as the linear and the
elasto-plastic constitutive models were developed to esti-
mate the structural responses. Then, the estimated responses
were compared with experiments and/or numerical models
considering coupled nonlinearity. Later, the timber-framed
Fig. 1  Joints for timber spatial structures, a tendon embedded timber joint [27]; steel plate splint joint; c slotted hole connection system [28]; d
MERO joint
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
plywood panel dome structures were investigated and the
structural performance under static loads was simulated
[29]. Recently, a group of European scholars systematically
studied the timber grid shells. Their work first explored the
form finding and structural analysis algorithms [30], based
on which a full-scale structure was designed and constructed
[31].
The reticulated timber dome structures are advantageous
as they are renewable, aesthetically attractive, and that they
could be easily assembled. The metallic joints connecting
the timber members are crucial components that have sig-
nificant impacts on the overall structural performance. Based
on different architectural designs, a few types of joints were
developed for reticulated timber domes. Figure 1a is a ten-
don embedded timber joint (referred as TET joint hereaf-
ter) [32]. The Saldome 2 dome is a typical case using such
design. Figure 1b is a steel plate splint joint (referred as SPS
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 3 of 24  73
joint hereafter) that was used in the timber dome in Brindisi,
Italy. The TET and SPS joints provide some rotational stiff-
ness. Hence, these joints are suitable for large-span timber
domes. Nonetheless, their torsional resistances are relatively
weak. Also notice that the timber elements for these joints
are usually accurately bent into the proposed forms before
the field assembling procedures. Figure 1c is a slotted hole
connection system designed for timber grid shells [33, 34].
Figure 1d presents a type of steel MERO joint that could also
be used for various timber structural systems. Furthermore,
the cross-laminated timber (CLT) is used to construct some
of the newest domes [35].
For steel structures, as the joint behaviors could be accu-
rately estimated in most cases, the joint performance can
be defined as rigid, semi-rigid, or flexible (close to pinned)
following different definitions of semi-rigidity [36–39].
Comparatively, the reticulated timber spatial structures were
traditionally designed assuming that the joints are ideally
pinned or completely rigid, disregard of different joint con-
figurations. However, for the joints of timber domes, such
as the TET joints and the SPS joints, their actual behaviors
are usually semi-rigid and do not conform to either of the
two extremes. Focusing on this problem, the semi-rigidities
of timber connections [40–43] were recently investigated.
This paper proposes a novel bolted connection for small-
span and mid-span reticulated timber domes. The design of
the connection considers an angle between the slotted-in
bolted timber elements and the center steel portion, which
slightly reduces the costs by removing the form curving pro-
cedure of timber elements. With the proposed connection,
small or medium reticulated timber domes could be designed
and constructed easily with acceptable prices. First, two rea-
sonably simplified sets of full-scale experimental tests were
Fig. 2  3D view of the BASS joints designed for the K6 timber domes, a 3D view of the proposed joint, b joint details
designed and carried out to investigate the semi-rigid prop-
erties of the proposed connection considering axial loads.
Numerical simulations of the proposed connections were
also provided. Then, a theoretical investigation on the semi-
rigidity of the proposed connections was presented. A design
formula with reasonable accuracy was provided for differ-
ent joint configurations. Finally, based on the tested and
simulated results, a few mid-span reticulated timber domes
were hypothetically designed, and the stability of the sample
domes was systematically investigated.
2 Joint design and experimental
investigations
2.1 Bolted joints for reticulated timber domes
The proposed joint includes steel bolts connecting the tim-
ber members with the angled slotted-in steel plates (referred
as BASS joint hereafter), which is shown in Fig. 2a. For
a K6 reticulated dome, the BASS joint contains 6 angled
slotted-in steel plates (shown in Fig. 2b). To construct a
reticulated dome, the steel plates are cut into the designed
angles instead of forming the timber elements with different
curvatures. Please notice that the BASS joints are currently
proposed only for small-span or mid-span reticulated timber
domes. With a reduced size of the dome, the aspect ratio and
the length of the timber elements are smaller such that they
could be experimentally tested in full size.
The dowel-type timber joints are usually not recom-
mended for the single-layered spatial structures. For exam-
ple, the current design practice tends to simplify the flexural
behavior of the dowel-type joint as a pinned joint. Under
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such assumptions, stability is difficult to achieve for single-
layered reticulated timber structures. However, discovered
in this study, the moment-resisting capacity of the BASS
joints is large enough such that they could satisfy the struc-
tural demands for the small-span or medium-span reticulated
timber domes.
2.2 Material tests
Compressive strength and embedment strength of wood are
two important material properties that have great impacts on
the overall behavior of the bolted glulam joints. The glulam
used in this study were made of Canadian spruce-pine-fir
(SPF) lumber. The elastic modulus as well as the strength
of the glulam was tested for both the cases parallel (//) and
perpendicular (⊥) to the grain. The results from this section
serve as an important reference for the subsequent studies.
While testing the compressive strength parallel to the
grain (fc,//), the specimens were designed with a length of
100 mm and the cross section of 25 mm × 25 mm. The test
method of the specimens was designed according to ASTM
D143 [44]. The test was displacement controlled. The loads
were applied at a speed of 0.3 mm/min. The test setup is
presented in Fig. 3a. The compression of the material was
measured over a 50-mm area in the center of the tested spec-
imen. A total number of 30 specimens were prepared and
Fig. 3  Test setup, failure modes, and tested results of the compression test parallel to the grain
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
tested. Four failure modes were observed during the tests,
which are shown in Fig. 3b. The four modes were: (1) the
crushing failure, (2) the crush-shear combined failure, (3)
the shear failure, and (4) the end zone failure. The first three
modes were the most commonly observed modes during the
tests. The stress–strain curves of the tested specimens are
presented in Fig. 3c. Obvious damage could be captured at
the strain level near 0.003. It could also be concluded that
the specimens were not ductile since a few specimens failed
immediately just after the damages occurred.
Different from the test of compression parallel to the
grain, the specimens with the length of 150 mm and the
cross section of 50 mm × 50 mm were designed for the test
of the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain (fc,⊥).
Following the test configuration shown in Fig. 3d, a total
number of 30 specimens were prepared and tested. Most of
the specimens failed with a similar mode, i.e., the crushing
failure shown in Fig. 3e. Comparing Fig. 3c, f, it is obvi-
ous that the performance perpendicular to the grain is more
ductile than that of the performance parallel to the grain.
The embedment strength (also referred to as the dowel-
bearing strength) is needed to calculate the load-carrying
capacity per shear plane of the bolted connections. A total
number of 15 specimens were prepared and tested to study
the embedment strength of the proposed joints. The speci-
mens are illustrated in Fig. 4a. For the two group of tests
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 5 of 24  73

Fig. 4  Primary failure mode of the specimens in the dowel-bearing strength tests, a parallel to the grain; b perpendicular to the grain

Table 1  Dimensions of embedment strength specimens
Group Diameter of Size of the Width
the fasteners predrilled
hole
// 20 22 132
⊥ 20 22 308
(i.e., //and ⊥), the diameter of the fasteners (d), the size of
the predrilled hole (d0), and the dimensions of the timber
specimens are summarized in Table 1.
The testing method followed ASTM D5764 [45]. The
loads were applied at the speed of 1 mm/min. When the
specimens were loaded parallel to the grain, the failure mode
included the embedment failure that arrived earlier and the
splitting failure along the grain, as shown in Fig. 4b. When
the specimens were loaded perpendicular to the grain, the
specimens were undamaged until the occurrence of wood
fiber fracture, as shown in Fig. 4c. The result of the embed-
ment strength is now listed in Table 2.
The mean values of the test results are summarized and
presented in Table 2. Besides the mean values, the standard
deviations and the variable coefficients were also calculated
and summarized. It should be noted that for glulam, clear
Height Thickness
wood specimens which are smaller than one lamella cannot
give enough information on the load-bearing capacity of the
full-scale glulam members. As we have the grade of the glu-
lam, the aim of the tests is to give a comparative information
154 50
for the material properties of the material. It should be noted
88 50
that the glulam used in this study was made according to
the Chinese standard “Technical Code for Glued Laminated
Timber Structures” [46], in which the strength grade classifi-
cation of glulam is different from that in the European code
[40]. In general, the strength of the glulam used in China is
lower than the strength of the glulam used in Europe. Since
the joint test results were related to the type and strength of
the glulam, the results of the material tests are reported in
this section to provide the readers with the tested material
properties. Thus, if a different type of glulam is used by
other researchers, a comparison can be made to have an in-
depth understanding of the performance of the joints.
2.3 Mid‑span reticulated timber domes
Reticulated timber domes with rise-to-span ratios from
1/6 to 1/3 were hypothetically designed. The loads were
determined by load specifications in China [47]. The dead

Table 2  Material and specimen properties

Formula Compression strength Embedment strength
Elastic modu- Ultimate Elastic modu- Yield strength Ultimate Yield strength Ultimate
lus E (//) strength σu lus E (⊥) σy (//) strength σu σy (⊥) strength σu
(//) (//) (⊥)

Mean 14,269 MPa 33.82 MPa 246 MPa 24.00 MPa 27.07 MPa 11.39 MPa 16.40 MPa

∑
Xi
X̄ =
�n∑
Standard devia- ̄ 2
(Xi −X) 3521 MPa 3.51 MPa 75.66 MPa 4.37 MPa 1.54 MPa 0.72 MPa 1.38 MPa
S=
tion n−1

Coefficient of 𝜈= S
× 100% 24.07% 10.39% 30.78% 18.19% 5.67% 6.33% 8.38%
X̄
variation

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load was 0.96 kN/m2, and the live load was 0.5 kN/m2. The
wind load form factors were different for the cases when
the rise-to-span ratio was big or smaller than 1/4, as shown
in Fig. 5a, b. The seismic design followed the requirements
specified in [48]. The technical specification of space frame
structures [49] was also used for the design of the dome.
Meanwhile, as the specification is mainly focused on the
steel space frame structures, the technical code of glued
laminated timber structures was used to design the timber
elements [46]. Regarding to the joint, two columns of bolts
were used to keep the joint area small. The end and edge dis-
tances were designed to satisfy the minimum code require-
ments. At the structural level, the analysis and design were
done using the software SAP2000.
2.4 Joint design
To use BASS joints, a K6 reticulated timber dome contains
many stiffened hollow steel cylinders. As shown in Fig. 6,
six timber elements are assembled around each of the stiff-
ened hollow steel cylinder with the steel bolted connections.
Besides, straight timber elements could be used to avoid
the form curving procedures for the glulam. An angle was
designed for each of the timber element. Notice that the
Fig. 5  Wind load form factors for timber domes, a rise-to-span ratio of 1/3; b rise-to-span ratio of 1/6
Fig. 6  Illustration of the BASS
joints connecting with the
center steel cylinder at an angle
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
angles for each of the joints might be different; thus, a quick
analysis was performed to statistically collect all the angles
for the joints in the single-layered reticulated dome with 6
nested rings. Domes with smaller rise-to-span ratios have
smaller angles. Therefore, The domes with smallest (1/6)
and largest (1/3) considered rise-to-span ratio was studied.
As shown in Fig. 7 , no obvious patterns could be found for
the distribution of the angles. However, most of the angles
are bounded within the range between 4° and 8°, as shown
in Fig. 7b.
2.5 Test setup
The boundary conditions are very difficult to define espe-
cially for a spatial dome structure test. Since the full-scale
sphere test of the dome containing several rings was nearly
impossible to realize in the laboratory, tests were designed
to obtain the mechanical properties of the joint, mainly
the properties of the joints under shear force, axial force,
and moment. In fact, out of these properties, the shear
and axial force capacities could be obtained from mul-
tiple guidelines in the design codes. Moreover, it should
be noted that the test setup used in this study might
cause bending in the joints, which resulted in relatively
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 7 of 24  73
Fig. 7  Statistical analysis of the angles of the single-layered reticu-
lated dome with 6 nested rings (40  m span with 1/3 rise-to-span
ratio), a angle analysis; b angle distribution
conservative load-resisting capacity of the joints. Thus, a
detailed numerical model was developed and verified by
the test results, and the model was further used to compre-
hend the mechanical behavior of the timber dome under
any loading scenarios.
To simplify the stiffened hollow steel cylinder of a K6
dome (shown in Fig. 8a), a steel box shown in Fig. 8b was
designed. Each of the simplified specimens contains only
two steel plates along a single direction. Besides, a steel
plate was designed at the top of the steel box to apply the
loads. The cross section of the timber elements is designed
to be 150 mm × 200 mm to match the steel plates.
Besides, the test needed to consider the influences from
the angled steel plates. Two different angles of the extreme
cases (i.e., shown in Fig. 7) were considered, which were 4°
and 8° according to the analysis above. The specimens were
labeled J4 and J8 accordingly, whose designs are illustrated
in Fig. 8c, d, respectively. The angle is the only difference
between the J4 and J8 specimens.
There is a small gap between the timber beam and the
steel cylinder, and the contact at the upper side contributes
to the splitting failure of timber at the bottom. It should be
noted that the bolts took shear load at the beginning, and the
bolts could bring a little moment resistance at the beginning
of the test due to the effect of the axial force.
The testing machine used in this study is shown in
Fig. 9a. The loads were applied from a hydraulic actuator
with a maximum loading capacity of 500 kN. The clear
space between the upper and the bottom actuator was
1000 mm. The dimension of the testing device was 7 m
(long) × 1.5 m (wide) × 4.8 m (tall).
In addition, simulations from SAP2000 showed that
the axial forces could not be neglected for the K6 tim-
ber domes. Therefore, a support (shown in Fig. 9b) was
designed to consider the axial forces. The center connector
and the support were also designed to avoid the out-of-
plane buckling of the joints. The loads were applied above
the center connector pointing downward. The specimens
were pushed downward at the rate of 4 mm/min until the
specimens failed. LVDTs were placed around the joint and
near the supports to collect the displacement and the rota-
tion of the specimens. As shown in Fig. 9c, LVTD-R1,
R2, and R5 were used to measure the rotation of the tim-
ber elements. LVTD-R3 and R4 were used to measure the
rotation of the steel plates. LVDT-R6 was used to measure
the vertical displacement at the beam ends. Finally, the
specimens were placed onto the testing machine, as shown
in Fig. 9d, e.
2.6 Test results
Three duplicates of specimens were fabricated in each test
set. The six specimens were labeled as J4-1, J4-2, J4-3, J8-1,
J8-2, and J8-3, respectively. The typical damages at the con-
nection failure stage are shown in Fig. 10a, b. At this stage,
the strength of the joint was significantly reduced by wood
splitting. The damage modes were further studied by decom-
posing the elements, as shown in Fig. 10c, d. The predrilled
holes were deformed. Such embedment failure was ductile
and desirable. The cracks in the wood were along the grain
passing the horizontal predrilled holes. In addition, as the
bolts were relatively large, they were only slightly bent after
the tests. After one of the surfaces of the predrilled holes
reached its shear capacity, cracks were highly likely to occur
and propagate along the grain passing other predrilled holes.
The moment–rotation curves of the J4 and J8 joints are
provided in Fig. 10e, f. While the rotation was smaller than
0.02 rad, the curves of J4 specimens were more likely to be
concave and the curves of J8 specimens were more likely
to be convex. Consequently, the initial stiffness (within
0.02 rad) for J8 specimens was higher than that of the J4
specimens. In addition, it is shown that most of the cracks
occurred after the rotation of 0.035 rad, which led to brittle
failures after the rotational deformation of the joints reached
0.04 rad. Finally, the behavior of J4 specimen could be esti-
mated by an approach provided in the subsequent sections
as given in Fig. 18.
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Fig. 8  Simplification and design of the tested specimens, a stiffened hollow steel cylinder; b steel box; c specimen configuration of J4; d speci-
men configuration of J8
3 Estimation of the mechanical properties
of the proposed joint
3.1 Numerical simulation
In this section, a 3D finite element (FE) model was devel-
oped using the simulation software Abaqus [50]. The model
accuracy was validated and calibrated by the test data.
The FE model could provide estimations of the rotational
strength for different designs of the BASS joints. Concluded
from the experimental results, the elastic performance of the
BASS joints is usually decided by the embedment strength of
the glulam. To consider the ductile performance at the local
level, a common approach is to weaken the elastic modulus
near the predrilled holes on the glulam elements [51, 52].
The elastic material properties are summarized in Table 3.
In the model, a square area with the size of 40 mm × 40 mm
around the predrilled hole was weakened for each bolt. The
weakening of the material was mainly in the parallel to grain
direction, which was calibrated according to the test data.
It should be noted that the modeling method was firstly
proposed by Foschi and Bonac [53] and was verified and
used by other researchers [51, 52]. The method includes a
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
wood foundation which is a prescribed zone surrounding a
bolt. The foundation material parameters were determined
through bolt-embedment tests, and then the parameters were
assigned to the prescribed foundation zone to account for
the wood crushing (embedment) behavior. However, such
modeling method has its limitations since a hypothetical
weakening zone near the bolt holes was assumed, and it is
essentially a phenomenon-based model which aims to pro-
vide a relatively accurate estimation for the load-carrying
capacity of the dowel-type joints.
The nonlinear behavior of the glulam elements was
assumed to follow a tri-linear model as shown in Fig. 11a.
Three points were, respectively, defined to mark the elastic
(stress and strain with subscript e), the plastic (stress and
strain with subscript p), and the ultimate (stress and strain
with subscript u) characteristics of the material. The areas
near the predrilled holes were also weakened to consider
plasticity. The tri-linear material properties are listed in
Table 4.
Furthermore, Hill yield criterion was applied to consider
the anisotropic plastic deformation of wood. For the steel
members, a typical bilinear model (shown in Fig. 11b) is
used with the mechanical properties listed in Table 5.
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 9 of 24  73

Fig. 9  Test setup, a testing machine; b configuration of the test specimen; c locations of LVDT; d setup of J4 type joint; e setup of J8 type joint

The global views of the J4 and J8 models are shown in
Fig. 12a. The numerical model ignored the imperfection of
the wood and the influence from the threads of the bolts. The
contact surfaces between the nuts and the wood were slightly
increased as the washers were not included in the model.
Friction contact was defined for the model. Hard contacts
were defined between the bolts and the steel holes. All the
other contacts were soft contacts, setting the surfaces of the
steel elements as main surfaces and the surfaces of the wood
elements as the slave surfaces. Reference points (RP) were
created for the model to apply the loads and constrains. The
boundary condition at the end of the beam was set as pinned
connection. No cracks were predefined in the model. The
mesh details are illustrated in Fig. 12b.
Both J4 and J8 models were simulated with the mod-
eling details provided above. The loads of the simulated

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Fig. 10  Experimental phenomena and tested results, a failure mode members of specimen J8; e moment–rotation curves of specimen J4; f
of specimen J4; b failure mode of specimen J8; c deformations in the moment–rotation curves of specimen J8
structural members of specimen J4; d deformations in the structural

Table 3  Elastic material Elastic modulus (MPa) Shear modulus (MPa) Poisson’s ratio
properties of the joint and the
weakened material properties Ea1 E2 E3 G12 G13 G23 ν12 ν13 ν23
near the predrilled holes
Joint (global) 14,270 832 832 900 900 90 0.37 0.37 0.38
Hole (local) 760 125 125 134 134 45 0.37 0.37 0.38
a
 1 in the subscript stands for the // direction, and 2 and 3 stand for ⊥ direction

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Fig. 11  Demonstration of the
nonlinear material models in
Abaqus model, a tri-linear
material properties for timber
members; b bilinear material
properties for steel members

Table 4  Tri-linear material Stress (MPa) Strain

properties for the glulam
elements σe σp σu εe εp εu

// (global) 28.4 34 30 0.002 0.005 0.01

// (local) 25.4 33.2 26 0.04 0.18 0.5
⊥ (local) 4.3 14 18 0.24 0.64 0.94

Table 5  Bilinear material Items E (MPa) Poisson’s ratio fy (MPa) fu (MPa) εu

properties for the steel members
Q235B steel plates 2.06 × 105 0.3 270 550 0.2
Grade 8.8 high strength bolts 2.06 × 105 0.3 640 800 0.1

Fig. 12  Finite element simulation of the glulam bolted connections, a overview of J4 and J8 models; b model meshing

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Fig. 13  Simulated results from the FEM analyses, compared with the tested results, a stress distribution in the timber members; b stress status in
the bolts; c predicted moment–rotation curve of J4; d predicted moment–rotation curve of J8
specimens were also applied on the created reference points.
Take J8 as an example, the component-level stress is illus-
trated in Fig. 13a, b. For the timber elements, stress concen-
tration was observed near the predrilled holes. Meanwhile,
the bolts were under bending, which led to higher stresses
in the center between the steel plates and the timber mem-
bers. The model predictions of moment–rotation curves for
J4 and J8 joints are presented in Fig. 13c, d. It could be
concluded that the simulation generally captures the trend
of the moment–rotation behavior of the joint. In addition,
as no cracks were predefined in the model, the simulations
were stopped before 0.04 rad to avoid the over-estimation of
the moment resistance.
3.2 Evaluation of semi‑rigid flexural behavior
To systematically evaluate the semi-rigidity of the BASS
joints, two moment–rotation models (shown in Fig. 14a)
were derived based on the test and simulation results.
The first model is a four-line model, which describes the
moment–rotation behavior of the BASS joints by capturing
the underlying mechanics of the components. Meanwhile,
the second model is a bilinear model, which describes the
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
joint behavior by a simplified approach. The bilinear model
connects the original point on the moment–rotation curves
with the ultimate point (point C in Fig. 14a). To validate the
accuracy of the simplified bilinear model, a quick analysis
at the system level was performed. Specifically, the overall
buckling forces of two reticulated timber domes (span 30 m
and span 40 m, rise-to-span ratio 1/5) were investigated. A
quick comparison of the ultimate buckling capacities is rep-
resented in Table 6. It is shown that the differences between
the two models were no more than 6.2%, which proves the
validity of the bilinear simplification. The details of the sta-
bility analysis will be presented in the last section of this
paper.
For the four-line model, four phases were observed, as
shown in Fig. 14b. The first phase is a short phase called
steel plate squeezing phase. In this phase, most of the bolts
are not contacting the predrilled holes in the timber mem-
bers. The moment resistance is provided by the squeez-
ing between the steel plate and the inner surface of the
slot in the timber members. The second phase is the bolt
slipping phase during which the bolts start to slip and hit
the surfaces of the predrilled holes successively. When all
the bolts hit the inner surfaces of the predrilled holes, the
Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 13 of 24  73

Fig. 14  Illustration of the
four-line model and the bilinear
model, a four-line model and
bilinear model; b four phases of
the four-line model; c difference
of the four-line curves for the J4
and J8 specimens

Table 6  Difference between the Domes With bilinear model With four-line model Difference (kN/ Percentage
bilinear model and the four-line (kN/m2) (kN/m2) m2)
model in terms of the ultimate
buckling capacities L = 30 m, fH/L = 1/5 33.36 31.41 1.95 6.20
L = 40 m, fH/L = 1/5 16.79 17.63 − 0.84 − 4.80

third phase, namely the dowel-bearing phase, arrives. The
behavior of the BASS joints in the third phase is ductile
and desirable. The last phase is the failure phase when
some large cracks start to occur. Figure 14c shows the dif-
ference of the four-line curves for the J4 and J8 specimens.
Such difference is purely caused by the effect of the angle
(referred as the arch effect hereafter). Larger angles lead
to more obvious arch effects, which increase the initial
stiffness and provide greater moment resistance during the
bolt slipping phase. Nonetheless, the arch effects become
smaller near the failure phase.
On the other hand, the bilinear model is used as a basic
model to develop the hand calculation method avail-
able in the following section to estimate the semi-rigid
joint properties. With the proposed hand calculation,
the moment–rotation curves of the BASS joints could
be roughly estimated without doing new experiments or
simulations.
3.3 Theoretical analysis of the load‑resisting
capacity
This section provides an estimation methodology for the
load-carrying capacities of the BASS joints. For a slotted-
in glulam bolted connection used for timber frames, its
moment capacity could be roughly estimated from a latest
work [43]. For the BASS joints, however, such estimation
approach could not be directly applied due to larger axial
force and the arch effect. This part of the paper proposes
a modified approach that is more accurate for the BASS
joints.
A couple of assumptions were made: (1) The deformation
within the timber elements are small such that the relative
locations of the holes do not change; (2) the center steel
connector and the steel plates suffer no damage; (3) the rota-
tional strength is influenced by the embedment strength of
each fastener. The direction of the dowel-bearing force is

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perpendicular to the line between the fastener and the center ⎧ fes ts d (I)
of rotation which is referred to as the CoR hereafter. ⎪ �
4M
⎧ ⎞ f
Multiple existing timber design codes provide the strength
⎛
⎪ ⎪
f t d ⎜ 2+ y,b − 1⎟ + a,b
es s
estimation of the embedment strength and the load-carrying fes dts2 4
⎪ ⎪ ⎜ ⎟
⎪
capacity per shear plane. Four well-known codes to esti-
⎪ ⎝ ⎠
⎪ min⎨ � (II)
mate the embedment strength of glulam bolted connections 4My,b
⎪ ⎛ ⎞
Fv,b = min⎨
⎪
⎪ 1.25 ⋅ fes ts d⎜ 2+ − 1
were systematically compared in a recent work [43]. This
⎟
⎪ ⎪ ⎜ fes dts2 ⎟
study adopts the approach from Eurocode 5 as it provides the ⎪ ⎩ ⎝ ⎠
closest estimation compared with the results of the material
⎪ ⎧ � fa,b
⎪ 2.3 My,b fes d + 4
tests. From the Eurocode, the embedment strength could be
⎪
⎪ min⎨ � (III)
computed according to Eq. (1): ⎪
⎩ ⎪ 1.25 ⋅ 2.3 ⋅ M f
y,b es d
⎩
fe,0 = 0.082(1 − 0.01d)𝜌 (2)
fe,0 My,b = 0.3fu d2.6
fe,90 =
k90
fe,0 (1)
fe,𝜃 = k mod 0.8
F= F = F
k90 sin2 𝜃 + cos2 𝜃 𝛾m v,b 1.25 v,b
k90 = 1.35 + 0.015d
where Fv,b is the characteristic value of the load-carrying
where fe,0 and fe,90 are the embedment strength values paral- capacities per shear plane, which is close to the tested aver-
lel and perpendicular to the grain, unit in MPa; d is the diam- age; fes and ts are the embedment strength and the thick-
eter of the bolt, unit in mm; ρ is the density of the lumber, ness of the side (timber) element; My,b is the yield bending
unit in kg/m3; θ is the angle between the dowel force and strength of the fastener, unit in kN∙m; fa,b is the characteristic
the grain. In addition, out of all the damage modes given in withdrawal capacity of the fastener; fu is the ultimate tensile
the code, three main ductile yield modes were identified for strength of the fastener, unit in MPa; kmod is the duration
the BASS joints. As shown in Fig. 15, the three modes are: and saturation factor, which could be found in Table 3.1
(Mode I) the yield of the wood fibers in contact with the from Eurocode 5; γm is the partial factor for material prop-
fastener in the side timber member; (Mode II) the yield of erties and resistances, which are provided in Table 2.3 from
fastener in bending at one plastic hinge point per shear plane, Eurocode 5. To obtain the design value (F), the character-
and bearing-dominated yield of wood fibers in contact with istic value shall be divided by a factor (i.e., γm/kmod = 1.56
the fastener in the side member; and (Mode III) the yield for this case). Then, the design moment capacity (Md) of the
of fastener in bending at two plastic hinge point per shear joint is the factored summation of the moments provided
plane, with limited localized crushing of wood fibers near from each of the n dowels, which is expressed by Eq. (3):
the shear planes. n
Then, modified from the Eurocode 5, the load-carrying
∑
Md = 𝛷an 𝛷ax Fi ⋅ li (3)
capacities per shear plane corresponding to the three modes i=1
could be calculated following Eq. (2):
where Φan is the coefficient considering the angle of the
joints and Φax is the coefficient considering the axial forces.
It is observed from the test that the angle of the joint could
tsteel slightly increase the moment capacity. Calibrated from the
t1 t1
tested values, Φan is 1.135 and 1.24 for the J4 joints and
the J8 joints, respectively. The coefficient for other BASS
joints with the angles between 4° and 8° could be linearly
interpolated.
The other coefficient, Φax, accounts for the moment
increase due to the effect of axial force. Notice that for the
BASS joints, the axial force keeps changing as the deforma-
tion becomes larger. The coefficient is calibrated from the
simulated results. If the axial forces are not available, this
(a) Failure mode I (b) Failure mode II (c) Failure mode III study recommends a default Φax value of 1.3 for the BASS
joints. With the axial force obtained from the FEM analysis,
Fig. 15  Three ductile failure modes identified for the BASS joints the coefficient could be calculated according to Eq. (4):

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{
1 a1 ∕F ≤ 20%
𝛷ax =
1 + 0.3 ⋅ (a1 ∕F) a1 ∕F > 20%
where a1 is the maximum axial force distributed to a sin-
gle hole on the timber element. In this case, the axial force
could be assumed to be evenly distributed. F is the load-
carrying capacities defined in Eq. (2). The coefficient is set
to 1 when the axial force is smaller than 20% of the load-
carrying capacities. Take the J4 specimen as an example: the
peak axial forces reached 78 kN according to the simulated
results. Then, a1 = 78 kN/4 = 19.5 kN and Φax = 1.43.
The moment capacity of the joints (Mu) usually refers to
the mean moment strength (Mave), which could be obtained
by multiplying the factor γm/kmod, as expressed by Eq. (5):
n forces in the tension side (Ft) are usually different for dif-
𝛾m ∑
Mave = 𝛷an 𝛷ax Fi ⋅ li
k mod i=1
The dowel load of the ith bolt (Fi) and the corresponding
moment arm (li) are critical components of the provided for-
mula to accurately decide the moment capacity of the joint.
Under complex loads, the dowel load is the vector sum of the
moment, the shear, and the axial forces. The shear and axial
forces are assumed to be evenly resisted by the n fasteners
(as shown in Fig. 16a).
When the spacing between the bolts is the same, the
CoR is assumed to be located along the angled vertical
line between the left most column and right most column
of bolts. The CoR is not at the geometric centroid of the
bolts as the dowel forces for different rows are not the same.
For the tested case, the CoR is located below the geometric
centroid toward the tension side of the glulam member. The
precise location of the CoR is relatively hard to be hand
calculated. In this study, an assumption is made such that
lAC:lCB = 2:1, where point A is the center of the outmost row
in the compression side and point B is the center of the out-
most row in the tension side. For simplicity, no matter how
many horizontal rows of bolts were designed for a joint, this
Fig. 16  Demonstration of the internal forces during hand calculations of BASS joints
ratio stays fixed. With such assumption, the moment from
(4) the shear forces is zero about the CoR.
Now that the moment arms are calculated, the next step
is to compute the dowel force of the ith bolt. From the simu-
lated model of the joints, the axial forces are large and could
not be neglected due to the arch effect. All the dowels in
compression reach their capacities (i.e., Fc = F) at the ulti-
mate stage, which is shown in Fig. 16. In addition, the dowel
forces for the bottom horizontal rows might be different.
The dowel forces are larger when they are located further
from the CoR. The dowel forces are assumed as zero if the
connecting line of a layer of bolts passes through the CoR.
For the outmost layer in tension, the dowel forces usually do
not reach their capacities. In addition, the maximum dowel
ferent joint designs. According to the simulated results for
(5)
the investigated scenarios in this study, their values could be
estimated by Eq. (6):
⎧ 0.40F 2 horizontal rows
(6)
⎪
Ft = ⎨ 0.65F 3 horizontal rows
⎪ 0.90F 4 or more horizontal rows
⎩
The dowel forces could be considered in the directions
perpendicular to their moment arms, which are shown in
Fig. 16a. If there are more than two horizontal rows of dow-
els, the dowel loads of the middle layers shall be linearly
interpolated. Notice that the assumptions about the locations
of CoR and the dowel forces were carefully calibrated from
multiple FEM simulated results. Nonetheless, these assump-
tions might not be precise for all the sizes and designs of
BASS joints. Future studies are encouraged to further elabo-
rate these variables toward higher accuracy.
Finally, to fully define the bilinear curve of the force–dis-
placement curve of the BASS joints, the rotational deformation
at the ultimate stage (θu) is needed in addition to the ultimate
capacity (Mu). Furthermore, the ultimate rotation of a glulam
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bolted connections has never been clearly defined from the
existing studies. Shu et al. [43] estimated that the rotation is
usually between 0.04 and 0.05 rad while considering slight
axial forces of the timber members. In this study, θu is assumed
to be relevant to three parameters, i.e., the diameter of the bolts
(d), the width of the BASS joint (i.e., tw in this case), and the
axial force coefficient Φax. θu becomes larger when the joint
section is wider and/or the bolt diameters are smaller. Larger
axial forces make the timber elements more likely to split,
which also reduces the ultimate rotation. The ultimate rota-
tion (in the unit of rad) could be roughly estimated by Eq. (7):
( )
0.07
𝜃u = 𝛽 × − 0.0005 × d ,
𝛷ax
(7)
{
1.0 tw ≤ 200 mm
𝛽=
1.1 tw > 200 mm
3.4 Application of the proposed analytical method
To better present the proposed estimation methodology, the
moment capacities of three BASS joints were calculated and
presented in this section. Different section sizes, bolt diam-
eters, and bolt arrangements were designed for three BASS
joint specimens (i.e., specimens S1, S2, and S3). The dowel
forces were first calculated to obtain the moment capacities.
Then, the ultimate rotational deformations were estimated
for the three BASS joints. As shown in Fig. 17, the first
specimen is same as the tested J4 joint. Besides, the diam-
eters of the bolts for the three joints are 20 mm, 24 mm, and
10 mm, respectively. The tensile strength of the bolts (fu,k)
is 600 MPa. The specific gravity (ρk) is 400 kg/m3. Fur-
thermore, the size of steel predrilled hole (dm) =  [23 mm,
24  mm, 14  mm] and the size of timber predrilled hole
(ds) =  [22 mm, 24 mm, 12 mm] for the three designs.
Then, the calculated values for each of the bolts are
presented in Table 7. In the table, Fa is the force adjust-
ing matrix for each of the bolts that was described above;

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 17  Design of the three BASS joints for the example of the implementation of the proposed hand calculation method, a specimen S1; b
specimen S2; c specimen S3

Table 7  Variable matrices for Fa Fa*Fv,b (kN) ri (mm) Mi= Fa*Fv,b*ri Φan Φax

the three examples of the BASS (kN m)
joints
S1 1 1 13.6 13.6 88.0 88.0 2.4 2.4 1.135 1.43
0.4 0.4 4.9 4.9 74.9 74.9 0.7 0.7
S2 1 1 23.4 23.4 174.6 174.6 8.2 8.2 1.24 1.3
0.5 0.5 10.1 10.1 106.3 106.3 2.1 2.1
0 0 0.0 0.0 70.0 70.0 0.0 0.0
0.9 0.9 18.2 18.2 106.3 106.3 3.9 3.9
S3 1 1 1 11.0 11.7 11.0 160.9 133.3 160.9 3.5 3.1 3.5 1.24 1.3
0.25 0.25 0.25 2.3 2.9 2.3 96.0 33.3 96.0 0.4 0.2 0.4
0.65 0.65 0.65 6.4 7.6 6.4 112.0 66.7 112.0 1.3 0.9 1.3

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50
Specimen 1 (J4)
Specimen 1 design
40 J4 tested mean
Specimen 2
Specimen 2 design
30
Mu (kN-m)
Specimen 3
Specimen 3 design
20
10
0
-0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06
θ (rad)
Fig. 18  Estimation of the moment–rotation curves of the three exam-
ples of BASS joints
Fv,b could be obtained following Eq. (2); ri are the distances
from each of the bolts to the CoR; Mi is the contribution of
moment from each of the bolts.
Finally, the estimation of the moment–rotation curves of
the three examples of BASS joints is presented in Fig. 18. In
the figure, the expected average moment–rotation curves for
S1 (J4), S2, and S3 are provided. The design values from the
proposed theoretical analysis method are also marked. For
specimen 1 (J4), the tested curve is also provided to show
the accuracy of the provided method.
3.5 Performance along the weak axis
Compared with the TET and SPS joints, the slotted-in steel
plates could provide the stiffness along the weak axis, which
makes the domes more reliable against lateral loads such as
strong winds and earthquakes. This is another advantage of
the BASS joints. This section provides some preliminary FE
simulation results of the moment–rotation behavior about
the weak axis of the beam. The moment resistance over the
weak axis of the beam is mainly contributed from the inter-
action between the steel plate and the timber members. As
shown in Fig. 19, as no bolts were placed in this direction,
the performance of the joints is close to a linear line. There-
fore, the moment resistance over the weak axis of the beam
could be represented by a linear line if it is needed for the
future design.
4 Stability analysis of reticulated timber
domes with the proposed joint
Full-size structural models were created using ANSYS
[54]. The models were used to investigate the static stabil-
ity of K6 single-layered reticulated timber domes. With the
nonlinear spring element COMBIN39, the force–displace-
ment correlations over all the degree of freedoms could be
Fig. 19  Performance of J8 BASS joints along the weak axis
accurately established at the joint level. In addition, by using
the ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL), a system-
atic analysis was performed to investigate the influences of
several key parameters on the stability of the domes.
4.1 Modeling of the single‑layered reticulated
timber dome
To investigate the stability of the small-span and mid-span
reticulated timber domes geared with BASS joints, a few key
parameters were considered. They were: the span (L) and the
rise/span ratio (fH/L); the joint model (stiffness); the initial
geometric imperfection; and the load distribution.
Beforehand, a typical single-layered reticulated timber
dome with K6 BASS joints was selected as an example to
study the features of the created models. The span of the
dome is 40 m, and the rise-to-span ratio is 1/3. The dome
includes 6 nested rings from the edge to the center. The dead
loads were transferred as the equivalent nodal mass with the
MASS21 elements. Besides, while calling the BEAM189
element, the joints of the presented domes were assumed to
be pinned, semi-rigid (stiffness provided by the tests and/or
estimations), and rigid. The geometric imperfections were
fixed at 1/1000. Dead loads and live loads were distributed
on the dome, assuming that all the nodes on each of the
rings carried the same amount of load, whose magnitude is
shown in Fig. 20.
The first three buckling modes and their frequencies are
illustrated in Fig. 21. In addition, a factor is also provided
with each of the modes. The system reaches its stability
capacity when the initial loads (shown in Fig.  20) were
multiplied with the factors. It is shown in the figure that
the second and third modes of the dome usually occur right
after the global bucking from the first mode. Most of these
modes are hybrid modes including local torsional motions
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the provided BASS joints, the dominating modes of the

dome were approaching those of the cases with rigid joints.
Moreover, to better understand the horizontal behavior of the
dome with BASS joints, the internal forces of the system are
provided in Fig. 22.
In Fig.  22, the buckling capacity versus deformation
curves for two selected nodes with large deformations was
also provided. In this study, the ultimate buckling capacity
was used as the performance index to evaluate the global
stability of the domes. The capacity is defined as the buck-
ling force of the force–displacement curves that could be
tracked using the arc-length method for the node that has
the maximum vertical displacement.

4.2 Span and rise‑to‑span ratio

Two spans (i.e., L = 30 m and 50 m) and three rise-to-span

Fig. 20  Nodal loads for stability analysis (from the center node to the
other nodes of the 6 nested rings)
and global vertical motions. Shown from the above stud-
ies, the BASS joints provide not only the rotational stiffness
along the main axis, but also the rotational stiffness along
the weak axis. With such characteristics, the torsional per-
formance of the timber domes with BASS joints is not as
important as the horizontal performance.
Comparing the results from the case with pinned joints
and those from the case with semi-rigid joints, it can be con-
cluded that the rotational joint stiffness ought to be con-
sidered during the design. The pinned assumption for the
joints is not recommended as it leads to a soft truss system
whose buckling capacity is very limited. Furthermore, with
ratios (i.e., fH/L = 1/3, 1/4, and 1/5) were selected to study
their influences on the stability of the timber domes. The
geometric imperfections were fixed at 1/1000. Figure 23
shows the ultimate buckling capacities of the timber domes
whose BASS joints were modeled with the rigid and the
semi-rigid assumptions. For the semi-rigid joint properties,
the tested moment–rotation behaviors were directly applied
to the model as all the joints were the same as the tested
joints.
The first observation from the Fig. 23 is that the domes
with larger spans have lower ultimate buckling capaci-
ties. Besides, the increase of the rise-to-span ratios leads
to the improvement of the buckling resistance. It can also
be concluded that the consideration of semi-rigidity of the
BASS joints is important while evaluating the stability of
the timber domes. The rigid joint assumption leads to an

Fig. 21  First three modes of a

typical single-layered reticu-
lated timber dome
Pinned
Joints

factor1=0.57 factor2=0.69 factor3=0.69

Semi-rigid
Joints

factor1=29.47 factor2=29.50 factor3=29.50

Rigid
Joints

factor1=35.33 factor2=35.33 factor3=35.41

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Fig. 22  Internal forces of the single-layered reticulated timber dome with BASS joints, a moment diagram; b axial diagram; c out-of-plane shear
diagram; d in-plane shear diagram

overestimation of the buckling capacities. It is recommended
that the rise-to-span ratio is designed in the range between
1/4 and 1/3.
4.3 Joint models and rotational stiffness
Shown from the above analysis, the proposed bilinear joint
model is a simplified mathematical model that can reason-
ably represent the rotational behavior of the proposed joints.
Specifically, the elastic joint stiffness is determined by the
timber material, the bolts, and the design of the joint. In this
section, the joint models of the timber domes were assigned
with different elastic stiffness to explore their influences on
the structural stability.
Figure 24 shows the ultimate buckling capacity of the
timber domes with different joint stiffness of the BASS
joints. The joint stiffness was sampled at 0.1 kN m/rad (close
to a pinned joint), 205 kN m/rad, 266 kN m/rad (close to the
test results), 843 kN m/rad, and over 1000 kN m/rad (close
to rigid joint). The geometric imperfections were fixed at
1/1000. It is noted from the figure that the ultimate buckling
capacities of the domes increased with the increase of the
joint stiffness. The pinned joints lead to extremely low buck-
ling capacities for both the 30-m and 40-m domes.
The ultimate buckling capacities could improve signifi-
cantly when some semi-rigidity (i.e., 205 kN m/rad) was
considered. In addition, increasing the joint rotational stiff-
ness from 266 to 843 kN m/rad only marginally increases

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Fig. 23  The impact of rise-to-span ratio on the ultimate buckling capacity, a span = 30 m; b span = 40 m

Fig. 24  The impact of joint stiffness on the ultimate buckling capacity

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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73 Page 21 of 24  73
the ultimate buckling capacity. If the semi-rigidity could be
considered in the model, there is no need to significantly
enhance the joint for higher buckling capacities.
4.4 Geometric imperfections
The geometric imperfections of civil structures are unavoid-
able due to the manufacturing and assembling errors. To
consider these geometric imperfections, consistent mode
imperfection method was commonly used while analyzing
the stability of the spatial structures. The geometric imper-
fections can be determined by the least eigenvalue buckling
mode and the maximum amplitude of the imperfections. In
this study, a few amplitudes of imperfection were selected
as: 0, L/3000, L/1500, L/1000, L/500, and L/300.
The influence of geometric imperfections on the ulti-
mate buckling capacity of the reticulated timber domes with
proposed semi-rigid joints is shown in Fig. 25. It could be
noticed from the figure that the buckling capacities were
smaller given larger initial geometric imperfections. In addi-
tion, the consideration of joint semi-rigidity also lowers the
stability capacities of the domes. Such effect is slightly more
significant for the domes with smaller spans than those with
larger spans.
It is also noticed that when the amplitude of geometric
imperfection is larger than L/1000, the domes lose most of
their ultimate buckling capacities. Therefore, the geomet-
ric imperfections shall be considered while evaluating the
stability of the reticulated timber domes with BASS joints.
Besides, the manufacturing and assembling procedures shall
be controlled to keep the maximum amplitude of the imper-
fections within L/1000. It is recommended to minimize the
Fig. 25  The impact of geometric imperfections on the ultimate buckling capacity, a span = 30 m; b span = 40 m
imperfections as global stability of the domes are sensitive
to them.
4.5 Load distribution
The live loads and the dead loads on the reticulated domes
are usually distributed loads. The full-span dead load (pDL)
of the single-layered reticulated timber domes contains
not only the loads from structural components, but also
the loads from the roof, the lightening, the facilities, etc.
In this study, pDL is first fixed at 0.96 kN/m2. In addition,
a half-span live load, pLL, was considered and its magni-
tude was set as 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100% of the dead load.
The loads were applied on a 40-m span reticulated timber
dome. The geometric imperfections were fixed at L/1000.
Then, the influence of load distribution on the ultimate
buckling capacity is shown in Fig. 26. It could be seen that
the general trend of the buckling capacities is decreasing
while increasing the magnitude of the half-span live load.
Besides, the largest deformation might happen at differ-
ent locations. As the loads were changing, the buckling
modes might also change, especially with the rigid joint
assumption.
Generally concluded from the figure, larger rise-to-
span ratios lead to more stable reticulated domes. Besides,
smaller live loads are more desired while considering the
stability of the structure. Furthermore, comparing the
results of the 30 m and 40 m domes, the 30 m solution has
got larger buckling resisting capacities. Most importantly,
the semi-rigid joint assumption, which is more realistic
compared with the rigid joint assumption, leads to much
smaller buckling resistance.
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Page 22 of 24
Fig. 26  The impact of load distribution on the ultimate buckling capacity a 30 m span; b 40 m span
5 Conclusions
There are finite studies currently available on the joint and
structural behaviors of timber domes. This paper investi-
gates a novel bolted connection (i.e., the BASS joint) that
is available for small-span and mid-span reticulated timber
domes. The BASS joint uses the steel bolts to connect the
timber members with the angled slotted-in steel plates.
Focusing on the proposed joint, full-scale experimental
tests were carefully designed to investigate the material
properties as well as the semi-rigid mechanical properties
while considering axial loads. Finite element simulations
of the proposed connections were also provided, and their
accuracies were calibrated with the experimental tests.
Then, the semi-rigidity of the proposed connections is
explored, and the design formula is provided for differ-
ent joint angles and heights. Finally, based on the tested
and simulated results, the mid-span reticulated timber
domes were hypothetically designed, and the stability of
the domes was systematically investigated. The following
conclusions could be drawn from the stability analysis:
(1) The rotational stiffness of the joint ought to be consid-
ered during the design. The semi-rigid joint behavior
is crucial regarding to the overall stability of the dome;
(2) Smaller spans, larger rise-to-span ratios, less geometric
imperfections, and smaller loads lead to more stable
domes with BASS joints.
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Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2020) 20:73
Future work regarding to the similar joint designs could
include: (1) A more accurate model of hand computation.
Specifically, the definition of center of rotation, the magni-
tude of dowel forces at the tension and compression sides,
the coefficients considering the angle of the joints and the
steel plate, and the ultimate rotation at failure could be fur-
ther studied. (2) Along with the static stability analysis per-
formed in this study, the dynamic stability problems and
the progressive collapse problems could also be further
investigated.
Acknowledgements  The authors gratefully acknowledge National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51878476, 51778460,
and 51708418) and National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No.
2017YFC0703507) and for supporting this research.
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