International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47

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International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijadhadh

FE analysis and geometrical optimization of timber beech finger-joint

under bending test
Van-Dang Tran, Marc Oudjene n, Pierre-Jean Méausoone
Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur le Matériau Bois (LERMAB), 27 Rue Philippe Séguin, 88026 Epinal, France

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental and numerical finite element results on the mechanical behavior of timber beech finger-
Accepted 19 March 2014 joint are presented. Numerical simulations are based on the Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) of Abaqus
Available online 4 April 2014 software to allow for accurate description of the progressive damage of the bond-lines within the finger-
Keywords: joint up to failure. To increase the finger-joint resistance, the geometry of the finger-joint has been
Finger-joint optimized using the Response Surface Method (RSM) and the Kriging interpolation. The finger length,
Glued solid timber the pitch and the tip gap have been defined as the design variables to optimize. The objective function
Adhesion has been defined in terms of the maximum bending force, obtained from four-point bending tests.
Adhesive Feasibility constraints on the design variables, conforming to the EN 14080 are also taken into account.
Cohesive behavior
The obtained results demonstrated clearly the potential in increasing the finger-joint resistance by
FEM
optimizing its geometry.
Optimization
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction propagates by steps: it takes place, first, at the finger-joint and

The research work reported herein is a part of a research
project, undertaken at the LERMAB laboratory of the University of
Lorraine, which was devoted to the study of adhesively bonded
solid beech timber beams for structural purposes. The experi-
mental program of the project includes mechanical characteriza-
tion of beech timber on small samples and full-scale destructive
bending tests according to the EN 408 [1] to evaluate the modulus
of elasticity (MOE) and the modulus of rupture (MOR) of glued
beech beams. Two-layer and three-layer glued beams with or
without finger-joints have been constructed from laminations
having 42 mm thickness. Finger profiling was performed by
profiling cutterheads with the following characteristics: 22 mm
finger length, 6 mm pitch and 1 mm tip gap. The adopted finger-
joint geometry meets the requirements of the EN 14080 [2]. The
adhesive used to glue laminations and finger-joints was mela-
mine–urea–formaldehyde (MUF) that fulfils current approval
criteria for the use in load-bearing timber components.
Preliminary results from full-scale destructive bending tests
showed that glued-solid timber beams without finger-joints
behave better and present greater MOR than glued-solid timber
beams with finger-joints. Inspection of failure modes revealed
that all beams having finger-joints in the zone with maximum
bending moment (tension zone) showed premature failure, which
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 33 3 29 29 61 37; fax: þ33 3 29 29 61 38.
E-mail address: marc.oudjene@univ-lorraine.fr (M. Oudjene).
then propagates to the inter-layer bond-line (Fig. 1). Thus, the full
rupture of the specimen is characterized by a cascading brittle
crack pattern combining finger-joint rupture and inter-layer dela-
mination. Therefore, it can be concluded that the actual finger-
joints are the weak links of glued-solid beech timber beams.
Performance of finger-joints, with different wood species, has
been extensively studied in the literature, where it has been
shown that the finger-joint strength depends on several inter-
linked factors related to the gluing process, namely glue spread
rate, assembly time and the pressure applied [3]. Also, specific
gravity of wood, planning and lamella thickness affect the finger-
joint resistance [3]. Other studies, by many authors, have focussed
on the bond-lines formation and stability. Collett [4] and Wake [5]
have studied the influence of the chemistry of adhesives and the
wetting of wood on the bond-lines formation and stability. The
influence of surface roughness and weak boundary layer formation
has been investigated by Stehr et al. [6–8]. Also the penetration of
adhesives into cell cavities and the diffusion of the adhesive into
the cell wall of the wood have been found to significantly
influence the strength of finger-joints [9–13]. Cheng and Sun
[14] have reported that low viscosity adhesives penetrated more
into the substrate creating a poor adhesive–substrate interface,
which in turn resulted in lower bonding strength. The strength of
finger-joints bonded with different types of adhesives has also
received attention [15–19] at ambient temperature or at elevated
temperature [20,21]. Schmidt et al. [22], and Aicher and Reinhardt
[23] have studied the curing process of MUF adhesives which is
considered to affect the bond strength and formation. On the other

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2014.03.007
0143-7496/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47 41

F/2 F/2

Failure of finger-joint Delamination

Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the studied sample with finger-joint (dimensions
Fig. 1. Typical experimental failure mode of glued-two-layer beam with finger- in mm).
joint.

hand, several numerical and theoretical studies have already been

presented [24–29] in relation with the modeling of the mechanical F
behavior of finger-joints. In most instances, the behavior of glue-
lines is approached by the finite element method. Stress distribu-
tions and failure of the finger-joint, including the influence of
geometrical parameters, like the lamination thickness and the
finger-joint geometry have been investigated. A nonlinear strain-
softening model with stochastic material parameters was also
proposed by Serrano et al. [26] to characterize the failure zone of
the finger-joint.
In the present study, however, attention is paid to the finger-
jointing geometry which is considered to play an important role
on the finger-joint resistance [17,30–33]. Of course, adhesive and
adhesion aspects are important and play a crucial role on the F
finger-joint resistance but considered beyond the scope of the
present paper, which aims to improve the strength of finger-joint
by optimizing its geometry.
This paper presents, first, a numerical approach based on
Cohesive Zone Models (CZM) to simulate the progressive failure
of the finger-joint and then an optimization issue towards the
improvement of the mechanical strength of finger joints. The
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been employed for the
optimization procedure. The description of the FE model, the
optimization strategy and main obtained results are the purpose
of the later discussions.
F F

2. Numerical simulation of the finger-joint Fig. 3. Schematic representations of (a) pure tension and (b) pure shear.

2.1. Description of the studied specimen 2.2. Determination of cohesive parameters

The schematic of the initial finger-jointing configuration stu-
died is shown in Fig. 2; all dimensions are in millimeter (mm). Two
finger-joint configurations are commonly used in practice [34]: the
first one is visible on the face, while the second one is visible on
the side. The second type has been chosen for the present study.
The specimens consist of finger-jointed solid lamellas made of
beech wood with average density of 650 kg/m3 determined
immediately prior to testing from the mass of the entire speci-
mens divided by their volume and moisture content which
fluctuated from 9% to 11%. The adhesive used to bond the speci-
mens was melamine–urea–formaldehyde (MUF). A total of ten
specimens have been tested experimentally, under four-point
bending tests according to the EN 408 requirements [1], in an
Instron machine at speed rate of 3 mm/min. The deflection was
measured with displacement transducers (LVDT) placed at the
mid-span of the specimen and recorded versus the total applied
load. All tests have been conducted under ambient temperature of
20 1C and 65% relative humidity.
The behavior of adhesives can be described by a Cohesive Zone
Model (CZM) in which the progressive failure is expressed by a bi-
linear traction–separation law. The traction–separation law is
generally defined by three cohesive parameters, namely the
critical cohesive strength, the initial stiffness and the fracture
toughness [35]. The fracture toughness can be determined by
experiments, but it is difficult to obtain, experimentally, the critical
cohesive strength and the initial stiffness and consequently they
are generally determined iteratively by adjusting the simulation
results to the experimental ones [35–37].
In this study, the strength characteristics of the MUF adhesive,
in pure tension and pure shear, have been assessed by tests
according to the EN 302-3 [38] and the EN 302-1 [39] procedures,
respectively, for assessment of glue-line strength characteristics
(Fig. 3). A total of ten specimens have been tested for each mode
loading. The mean experimental values of the normal and tangen-
tial strengths were: sn ¼ 3.1 70.28 MPa and st ¼10.3 70.68 MPa,
respectively.
42 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47

Since the finger-joint behaves under mixed-mode condition,

where normal and shear stresses arise concurrently in the fracture
zone process, the mode-mixity has been determined based on the
beam theory to avoid the monitoring of the crack length [35,41].

2.3. FE-model and constitutive laws

Fig. 4. Schematic representations of the modified DCB used in fracture mode I.
The ABAQUS finite element software has been used for the
finite element analysis of the finger-joint. A FE model that
simulates properly the bending behavior of finger-joint meets
the following requirements:

1 it predicts accurately the nonlinear behavior of timber (beech)

material with brittle failure in shear, tension parallel and
perpendicular to grain;
2 it predicts the damage and crack propagation across the glue-
lines within the finger-joint.

The bi-linear traction–separation law available in the ABAQUS

software has been chosen to simulate the progressive failure of the
finger-joint. That model assumes initially linear elastic behavior
followed by the initiation and evolution of the damage.
The initial elastic behavior can be written in a 2D situation as
follows:
( ) " #( )
sn K nn K nt δn
¼ ð1Þ
st K nt K tt δt

Fig. 5. Comparison between mean experimental and numerical load–displacement
curves for (a) mode I and (b) mode II.
where sn and st are the normal and the shear stresses, respec-
tively. δn and δt are the corresponding separations in the normal
and tangential directions, respectively.
A damage initiation criterion of maximum stress which obeys
to the following quadratic criterion has been selected:
 2  2
sn st
þ ¼ 1: ð2Þ
scn sct
A linear displacement-based softening has been selected to control
the damage evolution. When the criterion of maximum stress is
reached, the cohesive stiffness is degraded, by a scalar damage
variable D, which is related to the effective separation, to simulate
the progressive adhesive failure. Note that the use of a damage
model based on a single damage parameter assumes that the
failure of the adhesive is monotonic [42]. Thus the stress compo-
nents are affected by the damage variable according to the
Table 1
Optimal cohesive parameters used for mode I and mode II.

Kn (N/mm2/mm) scn (N/mm2) δmax (mm)

By referring to the notation used for the ABAQUS traction– n

separation law, the cohesive parameters are: the critical cohesive Mode I 4.5 1.6 0.005
strengths ðscn ; sct Þ, the initial stiffness ðK n ; K t Þ and the maximum
K t (N/mm2/mm) sct (N/mm2) δmax (mm)
displacements ðδmax n ; δmax
t Þ. The cohesive parameters in pure mode Mode II 30 9.7
t
0.00005
I have been identified based on a modified DCB test (Fig. 4), similar
to that presented in [40], while the cohesive parameters in pure
mode II have been determined based on the pure shear test shown
in Fig. 3b.
In the identification procedure, the cohesive parameters have
been defined as design variables and identified, in each pure
mode, using an appropriate parametric study, via a user Python
script file. The cohesive parameters were selected on the basis of
the numerical curve that fit well the mean experimental one
(Fig. 5). For further details on the identification procedure, the
references [35,40] are recommended. Finally, the optimal cohesive
parameters obtained in each mode are summarized in Table 1. Fig. 6. Finite element model of the finger-joint specimen.
 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47 43

following: The finite element model of the finger-joint shown in Fig. 2 is

( constructed and displayed in Fig. 6. 2D finite element model was
ð1  DÞsn ; sn Z 0
sn ¼ ð3Þ assumed and three-node plane stress elements have been used for
sn ; sn r 0 the discretization of the finger-joint (Fig. 6). The mesh was refined
around the finger-joint to properly predict the damage initiation
st ¼ ð1  DÞst ð4Þ and the progressive failure of the adhesive. Orthotropic anisotropic
elasto-plastic material model [43–45] has been assumed for the
where sn and st are the normal and tangential stress components timber material, while the behavior of glue-lines, within the finger
computed by the elastic traction–separation law for the current joint, has been modeled with the help of the Cohesive Zone Model
separations without damage, respectively. of ABAQUS finite element code and suitable damage law. The
The damage parameter D,qfor
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
linear softening, is based on the beech timber has been considered with the elastic properties
effective displacement δm ¼ 〈δn 〉2 þ δ2t (in the 2D situation) used given in Table 2. Note that the longitudinal module of elasticity has
for general cases of damage under mixed-mode combining normal been determined based on four-point bending test according to
and shear stresses and can be expressed as follows [42]: the EN 408, while the other properties has been taken from [46] to
obey to the symmetry requirements of the elasticity matrix.
δfm ðδmax 0
m  δm Þ
D¼ f
ð5Þ The numerical simulation was conducted under displacement
δmax 0
m ðδm  δm Þ control until failure of the specimen and the bending force was
where δ0m and δfm are the effective displacements at initial damage computed and the results of the CZM predictions, with regard to
and complete failure, respectively. the load–deflection curves, in comparison with the experimental
ones are shown in Fig. 7. It can be observed that the CZM model
Table 2 was able to provide reasonable prediction of finger-joint bending
Elastic properties of beech timber. force, though the predicted numerical bending force (10,405 N)
was slightly higher than the mean experimental value (10,275 N)
Elastic properties Values and the numerical mid-span deflection at failure (20 mm) was
EL (MPa) 14,788
slightly lower than the mean experimental value (22 mm).
ER (MPa) 1848 From the experimental load–deflection curves shown in Fig. 7,
ET (MPa) 1087 it can be seen that the specimens behave linearly until a mean load
GLR (MPa) 1260 value and a mean deflection value respectively of about 10 kN and
GTL (MPa) 971
20 mm are reached. Beyond this peak, the load–deflection curves
GRT (MPa) 366
υRT 0.67 drop quickly due to the brittle failure of the finger-joints. It is
υLT 0.46 worth noting that preliminary results showed that similar solid
υLR 0.39 lamination specimens, without finger-joints, exhibit non-linear
υTR 0.38 behavior after the initial linear behavior and present greater
υRL 0.048
υTL 0.033
bending strength. It can be concluded, therefore, that the brittle
failure of the finger-joint prevents the entire specimen to reach its
bearing capacity.
Further, the comparison between the experimental and numer-
ical failure modes is shown in Fig. 8.
It can be observed, in the qualitative point of view, that the
predicted numerical failure mode is similar to the experimental
one. The failure of the specimen occurs due to the full adhesive
crack. In fact, during the loading process adhesive fails under
combined normal and shear stresses within the finger-joint. The
fracture takes place at the adhesive bond-lines near the lower face
of the specimen, which corresponds to the maximum tension
zone, and propagates towards the upper face, leading to the
progressive opening of the finger-joint.

3. Optimization of the finger-joint

Fig. 7. Comparison between experimentally and numerically predicted load– Among the existing optimization methods, the Response Sur-
deflection curves. face Method (RSM) is widely and successfully used mathematical

Fig. 8. Comparison between failure modes of the finger-joint. (a) Numerical and (b) experimental.
44 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47

tool for optimization problems in many fields of structural 3.1. Formulation of the optimization problem
mechanics. It is based generally on statistical considerations in
order to build local approximations of the real unknown function To increase the resistance of finger-joints, the optimization
to be optimized. It uses the Design of Experiments (DoE) method problem is expressed as follows:
to build approximated response surfaces. The DoE method is 
max JðxÞ
used to evaluate effectively the response of a system which is
influenced by the variation of the design variables. To properly subjected to xu rx rxv ð5Þ
formulate an optimization problem, it is necessary to understand
u v
the characteristics of the system and to define precisely the design where JðxÞ is the objective function, x and x are the lower and the
variables affecting the response of the system. upper bound vectors of the design variable x, respectively.
The optimization problem consists in determining the optimal
geometry to achieve a higher resistance of finger-joints, which
corresponds to the maximum value of the cost (or objective)
function J. Therefore, the finger length, the pitch and tip gap,
denoted A, B, and C, respectively were defined as the design
variables which affect the failure behavior of the finger-joint. The
cost function J to maximize is related to the maximum bending
force Fmax which can be expressed under its normalized form as
follows:
F max
J¼ ð6Þ
F0

where F 0 is the maximum bending force of the finger-joint

computed with the initial geometry.
Feasibility constraints on the geometrical parameters are also
considered, leading to a bounded design variables. In the present
study, the lower and upper bounds were chosen according to the
EN 14080 [1] requirements regarding the profiling of finger-joints,
but can be defined otherwise. Thus, the feasibility constraints are
expressed as follows:
8 u
> x r x1 ¼ A r xv1
< 1
ðxÞ : x2 r x2 ¼ B r x2
u v
ð7Þ
>
: xu r x ¼ C rxv
3 3 3

Fig. 9. The global flowchart of the automatic optimization procedure [47].
After defining the design variables, the levels and the number
of experiments were determined by using the central composite
Design of Experiments (DoE).
The objective function (J) is implicit compared to the design
variables and its evaluation requires large computation times. To
find the optimal design variables with low cost and with a good
accuracy, the Response Surface Method (RSM) is adopted using the
Kriging interpolation and coupled with a strategy of actualization
of the search space [47]. Central composite Design of Experiments

dk
k
xopt

2
xopt
d1

1
xopt 1 d2
xopt

x0

Fig. 10. Progression of the optimization procedure for 2D case: (a) global and (b) successive local approximations [47].
 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47 45

(DoE) with five levels for function evaluation has been adopted to
build the response surfaces.
3.2. The Kriging interpolation
The Kriging [47,48] interpolation method is a powerful inter-
polation technique which is widely used in optimization problems.
It enables to represent complicated functions. This method is
applied in this work to represent the response surface in an
explicit form, according to design variables. Only a brief descrip-
tion of the Kriging model is given here, for further details
reference is made to [47–49]. The approximate relationship of
the objective and constraint function can be expressed as follows:
J n ðxÞ ¼ P T ðxÞβ þ r T ðxÞα
T
where β ¼ ½β1 ; :::::::::; βm  is the coefficient vector and the random
fluctuation. r T ðxÞα is an interpolation of the residuals of the
regression model, while P T ðxÞβ is used to represent the deviation
of the global model.
A Python Script is used to create the ABAQUS finite element
model, to run the computations and to post-process the results,
which are exported in an ASCII file. That file is then read by a
FORTRAN program, in which the response surface approximations
and SQP algorithm are implemented.
4. Optimization results
Optimization results are reported in Table 3, where it can be
seen that the optimal geometry of the finger-joint leads to an
increase of the numerical bending force from 10,405 N to 13,803 N.
With the optimal geometry the finger length has increased to
its upper level and the pitch of the finger joint has significantly
ð8Þ
decreased, whereas the tip gap has slightly decreased (Fig. 11),
leading to an increase of the cohesive area (bonded surface).
Fig. 12 illustrates the comparison between the numerically
predicted load–deflection curves with both the initial and optimal
finger-joints. In addition to the numerical bending force, which

3.3. The optimization procedure

The goal of RSM is to decrease the cost of functions evaluation Table 3

in structural optimization. The strategies adopted in this work Parameters before and after optimization.
allow to build precise approximations in order to find an accurate
global optimum. In this paper, we limit ourselves to a short Parameters Min Max Initial Optimal

presentation of the optimization strategy. A (mm) 15 30 22 30

The general overview of the above procedure is shown in Fig. 9. B (mm) 3.8 6.8 6.0 3.8
First, a global approximation is made initially by considering a C (mm) 0.42 1.0 1.0 0.72
weight function which is equal to zero (a global approximation), Fmax (N) 10,405 13,803
and in order to avoid a local optimum successive optimizations are
performed automatically using the SQP algorithm to obtain the
best optimal solution starting from each point of the DoE. The
best solution among those obtained in various optimizations is
then considered (Fig. 10a). After that, successive local approxima-
tions are built in the vicinity of the optima (Fig. 10b) to obtain a
more accurate approximation of the optimization problem locally
(centered around the best minimum). The iterative procedure
stops when the successive optima of the approximate function
become close. Finally, another evaluation is carried out to obtain
the real response.
During the progression of the optimization procedure, the
region of interest moves and zooms on each optimum by reducing
the search space by 1/3.
In addition, evaluation points which have been already calcu-
lated are duly taken into account when working on a new search
space. The optimization procedure is stopped when the size of the
search space becomes too small or when the successive optima
become close. Fig. 12. Comparison between the load–deflection curves computed with the initial
and optimal finger-joint geometries.

Fig. 11. Finger-joint geometries (a) initial and (b) optimal.

46 V.-D. Tran et al. / International Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives 52 (2014) 40–47
increased from 10,405 N to 13,803 N, it can be also seen from this
figure that the deflection at failure has been increased from about
20 mm to 29 mm.
5. Conclusion
The aim of this paper was to optimize the finger-jointing
geometry towards the improvement of its mechanical strength.
The crack growth across the bond-lines of the finger-joint has been
successfully modeled using the cohesive surfaces of ABAQUS and
suitable damage laws. This computational approach was found to
be suitable for cracked bond-lines where the crack propagates
through a known direction. In this study, finger-joints have been
identified as the weakest points of the entire jointed specimens.
Thus, an improvement of the finger-joint resistance is proposed
based on the optimization of its geometry. The Response Surface
Method (RSM) has been used for the optimization purpose.
Response surfaces were built using the Kriging interpolation. The
objective function has been defined in terms of the maximum
bending force, obtained from four-point bending tests.
Feasibility constraints on the geometrical parameters are also
taken into account. In order to improve the RSM accuracy and to
deal with the local optimum problem, an efficient optimization
strategy allowing the actualization of the search space has been
adopted.
The obtained numerical results demonstrated clearly the
potential of increasing the finger-joint resistance by optimizing
its geometry.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Dr. N. Lebaal for the fruitful
discussions and his help regarding the optimization strategy. Also,
the financial support of the French Ministry of High Education and
Research (MESR-2011) is gratefully acknowledged "Terres de
Hêtre" is gratefully acknowledged for providing beech timber used
in the experiments.
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