Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

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

Experimental investigation on the shear properties of notched

connections in mass timber panel-concrete composite floors
Lei Zhang ⇑, Ying Hei Chui, Douglas Tomlinson
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 1H9, Canada

h i g h l i g h t s

Shear tests were performed on timber-concrete composite notched connections with different configurations.

Influence of the connection geometry, orientation of timber, and presence of screws were investigated.

Digital image correlation method was used to capture the displacement field around the notch.

Different failure modes were observed: concrete cracking, timber shear-off, and timber crushing.

Notch depth and notch spacing both affect the optimal design of the connections in composite floors.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Mass timber panel-concrete composite floors efficiently combine the structural merits of timber and con-
Received 8 August 2019 crete and are gaining interests from builders and designers. Among different connection systems in the
Received in revised form 18 October 2019 composite floors, the notched connection is both structurally superior and cost effective. However, due to
Accepted 23 October 2019
the lack of design methodology, the use of notched connection in mass timber panel-concrete composite
Available online 29 November 2019
floor systems is hindered. This study investigated some important factors that could affect the structural
performance of notched connections through experimental studies. Ten types of notched connections
Keywords:
were made with varying factors including geometry of the connection, orientation of timber and presence
Mass timber panel
Timber-concrete composite floor
of additional steel fasteners in the connection, and tested under shear load. Test results show that stiff-
Notched connection ness, load-carrying capacity and failure pattern vary among different configurations, and geometry of the
Shear test connection and orientation of timber are the most important factors that influence the connection per-
formance. Results from this study could serve as an important reference for the optimal design of the
notches in the composite floors, as well as improving the existing design rules and verifying the analytical
models for the notched connections.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A timber-concrete composite (TCC) floor system consists of bot-
tom timber members, a concrete topping, and the connection sys-
tem between timber and concrete. The use of concrete in the
compression zone and timber in the tensile zone allows an opti-
mum utilization of both materials. For large span floors, by replac-
ing the ineffective cracked zone induced by tensile stresses at the
bottom of traditional reinforced concrete slabs with timber layers
in the TCC floors, a lower self-weight, lower carbon footprint, faster
erection, and better thermal performance system can be achieved
[1,2].
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lzhang9@ualberta.ca (L. Zhang).
The TCC systems can either be formed as a flat slab system
which is termed a Mass Timber Panel-Concrete (MTPC) composite
system, as well as a ribbed ceiling system which is termed a
T-beam type TCC system, as shown in Fig. 1. Compared with the
T-beam type TCC system, the MTPC composite system can reach
a larger span-to-total depth ratio, and the timber panel could act
as stay-in-place structural formwork for concrete and be exposed
in the ceiling for the aesthetic design. Compared with traditional
timber floors, MTPC composite floors have improved strength, stiff-
ness, durability, sound insulation, and fire performance [1,2].
The choice of connection system in MTPC composite floors is
crucial in order to make the composite system both structurally
and economically competitive. Irrespective of the kind of connec-
tor to be used, the connection system must be strong and stiff
enough to transfer the design shear forces and provide effective
composite action. However, almost all shear connections are

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117375
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
(a) T-beam type timber-concrete composite floor
Fig. 1. Two types of timber-concrete composite floor system.
semi-rigid to some extent. Therefore, a certain amount of relative
slip between concrete and timber will exist [3].
Traditional mechanical fasteners such as nails, screws, and
dowels are commonly used in connection systems but are rela-
tively flexible, whereas notches cut into the wood and direct gluing
are relatively rigid [3–5]. In terms of cost, labour intensity, com-
plexity, constructability, and quality control, mechanical steel fas-
teners and adhesive increase the total cost and reduce the
competitiveness of timber-concrete composite slabs. On the con-
trary, the notched connections reduce the cost since the notches
are made by simply drilling or cutting grooves into the timber, typ-
ically using high-precision Computer Numerical Control (CNC)
machines in the fabricator shop, prior to being sent on site [2].
In notched connections, grooves cut into the timber can be iso-
lated rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular, or round shapes [6–14];
continuously notch waves [15]; or even jagged micro-notches
[16], as shown in Fig. 2. In general, the shear force is transmitted
through the compressive contact of timber and concrete. In addi-
tion to this interlocking effect, steel fasteners are often used in
the notched connections as additional reinforcement to prevent
uplift of concrete under shear forces and gap opening due to
shrinkage of concrete and drying of wood. One type of the mechan-
ical connectors is the post-tensioning dowel connection [11–14]
where torque can be applied to tighten the concrete and wood
after the concrete has cured. The more commonly used steel con-
nectors are lag screws, self-tapping screws, dowels, and rebar that
are often inserted in the middle of the notch [6–10].
The structural behaviour and failure modes of the composite
systems are strongly affected by the geometry of notched connec-
tions and material properties of timber and concrete. Depending
on the design of the notches in the composite system, the system
can be almost fully rigid [9–10,17] or partially composite [13–15].
Large slip in the connection reduces stiffness and strength of the
composite floor system. However, a well-accepted criterion for
Fig. 2. Various notch shapes in MTPC composite floors. (a) Rectangular, (b) Trapezoidal, (c) Triangular, (d) Round, (e) Curved, and (f) Jagged micro notches.
(b) Mass timber panel-concrete composite floor
designing the notched connections to minimize the relative slip
in MTPC composite systems is not yet available. This hinders
the development and application of notched connections in
practice.
This study investigated the shear properties of notched connec-
tions in MTPC composite floors made of Glued Laminated Timber
(GLT) panel and concrete through experiments. The main purpose
of this study is to investigate some important factors that could
affect the shear behaviour of notched connections, including geom-
etry of the connection, presence of self-tapping screws in the con-
nection, and timber orientation. Shear tests were conducted on ten
types of notched connection configurations to compare their load-
carrying capacity, slip stiffness, and failure modes. Results from
this study will contribute to the future development of construc-
tion guidelines and design methods for MTPC composite notched
connections and floor systems.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Specimen design
Although different notch shapes exist in practice, previous
research has shown that the rectangular notch is the simplest
and most efficient notch shape [15,18]. Thus, only the rectangular
notches were made and tested in this study. The notches were cut
using a circular saw blade in the laboratory. A total of ten different
configurations of notched connections were designed and each
configuration had six repetitions. Among the different configura-
tions, seven were made with the connection axis aligned along
the timber grain direction (referred to as longitudinal or ‘‘L”) and
three were made with the connection axis aligned in the perpen-
dicular to grain direction (referred to as transverse or ‘‘T”), as
shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b), and Table 1. In Table 1, the specimens
were labeled with direction of timber, notch depth, timber length
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375 3

(a) Specimen in the longitudinal direction

(b) Specimen in the transverse direction

(c) Screw inserted into notch (d) Screw inserted into timber in front of notch

Fig. 3. Configurations of notched connections in longitudinal and transverse directions and positions of self-tapping screws (in mm).

Table 1
Notched connection specimen design.

Group name Orientation Notched depth (mm) Notch length (mm) Timber length (mm) Screws
T-25-180 Transverse 25 110 180 –
T-25-180-concrete Transverse 25 110 180 in the notch
T-25-180-timber Transverse 25 110 180 in the timber
L-25-250 Longitudinal 25 150 250 –
L-10-250 Longitudinal 10 150 250 –
L-40-250 Longitudinal 40 150 250 –
L-25-150 Longitudinal 25 150 150 –
L-25-350 Longitudinal 25 150 350 –
L-25-250-concrete Longitudinal 25 150 250 in the notch
L-25-250-timber Longitudinal 25 150 250 in the timber

in front of notch, and position of self-tapping screws. The width of
specimens was 200 mm for all configurations but the bottom of
timber had additional wings for the purpose of clamping the tim-
ber down during the test. The height of timber and concrete was
130 mm and 100 mm respectively.
For the longitudinal specimens, the length of the notch was
fixed at 150 mm as suggested by Dias et al. [18] as the minimum
notch length. The varying factors in different types of connections
include the length of timber in front of notch, the depth of notch
and the existence and position of self-tapping screws. The speci-
men type L-25-250 is the standard case and every other type will
be compared with this one. The depth of the notch varied between
10 mm and 40 mm, although the most common notch depth in
building applications is in the range of 20–30 mm [2]. The length
of timber in front of notch varied between 150 mm and 350 mm.
The ratio of timber length to notch depth varied between 6 and
25, with the smallest ratio resided in specimen L-25-150 and the
largest ratio resided in specimen L-10–250.
4 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
The transverse specimens were shorter in notch length
(110 mm) and timber length (180 mm) compared with the longitu-
dinal specimens due to restrictions of the mass timber panel size.
Specimens in transverse direction all had the same size, the only
differences being the existence and position of screws.
In each direction, two types of specimens had screws inserted
into the wood to strengthen the connections under the shear load.
In these connections, two screws at a spacing of 100 mm were
placed across the width of the cross-section. The specimens with
‘‘concrete” in the label had screws inserted into the notch at the
position that was close to the bearing surface for the purpose of
restricting crack opening of concrete during loading. The speci-
mens with ‘‘timber” in the label had screws inserted into the tim-
ber in front of notch for the purpose of preventing shear failure of
timber. The position and embedment depth of screws into the
wood are shown in Fig. 3(c) and (d).
2.2. Materials
2.2.1. Timber
Glued laminated timber (GLT) manufactured with No. 2 or bet-
ter grade spruce-pine-fir (SPF) from western Canada was used in
this study as the mass timber panel. The thickness of one layer of
lamination in GLT was 38 mm and the glue used was melamine
formaldehyde. The moisture content of timber measured immedi-
ately after test was 8.5%. Small samples were cut from the untested
timber of the same batch and tested for compression and shear
according to ASTM D143-14 [19], as shown in Fig. 4. The number
of small clear samples for compression test in longitudinal direc-
tion, transverse directions, and shear test in longitudinal direction
was 22, 21, and 49 respectively. The cross-section dimensions for
the compression specimens were 40 mm  40 mm while the
height was 160 mm and 80 mm for longitudinal and transverse
specimens respectively. The modulus of elasticity (EL and ET) and
(a) Timber compression test
parallel to grain
Fig. 4. Material tests on small clear timber samples.
Table 2
Material properties of timber.
EL (GPa) ET (GPa) L
f c (MPa)
12.0 (18.7%) 0.2 (41%) 49.5 (11.4%)
Note: EL and ET are the modulus of elasticity in the longitudinal and transverse directions respectively.
transverse directions respectively. tLT is the Poisson’s ratio in the longitudinal direction. SL is the shear strength in the longitudinal direction. Numbers in the brackets are the
coefficients of variation.
Poisson’s ratio (tLT ) were measured using Digital Image Correlation
(DIC) method from the compression tests by capturing a sequence
of images in every 2 s during the tests using two CCD cameras (Vic-
3D, Correlated Solutions). The measured properties of timber are
listed in Table 2. Since the transverse direction contains different
annual ring angles, the modulus of elasticity ET had a low average
value and a large coefficient of variation.
2.2.2. Concrete
After the grooves were cut into timber, the formwork was made
with plywood on the sides of timber and concrete was then mixed
and cast on top of timber into the formwork, as shown in Fig. 5.
Concrete was mixed in five batches in total and consolidated using
manually operated vibrators and then covered with plastic mem-
branes for one week before removal of formwork. The nominal size
of the coarse aggregate was 10 mm, so that the formation of voids
in the corners of notches could be avoided during concrete consol-
idation. Steel welded wire mesh with a diameter of 5 mm and a
grid size of 100 mm  100 mm was placed at mid-depth of con-
crete to prevent potential cracking due to shrinkage and tempera-
ture change. The 28-day design strength class for the concrete was
C35/45 but the cylinder tests showed that the actual compressive
strength was about 52 MPa after 60 days. Cylinder tests were per-
formed upon completion of the connection shear test according to
specifications of ASTM C39/C39M-18 [20] and ASTM C469/C469M-
14 [21]. Results from cylindrical concrete specimen tests are sum-
marized in Table 3. The Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio were
measured using a compressometer mounted on the concrete
cylinders.
2.2.3. Screws
Self-tapping screws were used in four types of specimens as
additional steel fasteners in the notch. The screws used in this
study were the CLC8160 wood-concrete connectors made by HOLZ
(b) Timber compression test (c) Timber shear test
perpendicular to grain parallel to grain
T
f c (MPa) tLT SL (MPa)
3.6 (19.8%) 0.52 (21.0%) 7.2 (16.7%)
L T
fc and
fc are the compressive strength in the longitudinal and
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
Fig. 5. Specimen preparation. (a) Timber after notch cutting and screw drilling, (b) Formworks, and (c) Specimens after concrete casting.
Table 3
Results obtained from cylindrical concrete specimen tests.
Compressive strength (MPa) Young’s modulus (GPa)
52.0 (3.9%) 29.5 (4.2%)
Note: Numbers in the brackets are the coefficients of variation.
Technic. The nominal diameter of the screws is 8 mm and the total
length is 160 mm which contains 110 mm thread length and
50 mm upper thread length. The provided characteristic tensile
strength and characteristic withdrawal resistance from the manu-
facturer are 21 kN and 11 N/mm2 respectively. The screws were
inserted into wood normal to the plane of wood as shown in
Fig. 3(c) and (d).
2.3. Test setup and loading procedure
The test frame for the notched connections is shown in Fig. 6. In
this test setup, shear force was applied horizontally with a hydrau-
lic actuator in a loading rate of 1 mm/min. The shear load was
applied according to EN 26891 [22] which contains a pre-load
cycle at 40% of the estimated peak load. The timber wings were
clamped to the test frame to prevent rotation. Two layers of plastic
foams were placed between the specimen and the load cell to
reduce the bending of load cell caused by friction. The relative dis-
placement between the beginning of concrete protrusion and end
of timber in front of notch was measured using linear variable dif-
ferential transformers (LVDTs) mounted on both sides of the spec-
imen. For specimen types L-25-150, L-25-250, and L-25-350, two
samples from each were measured using DIC method on one side
of the specimen to obtain the entire displacement field around
the notched region. A two-dimensional DIC system with one
(a) Schematic of the testing frame (in mm)
Fig. 6. Notched connection shear test setup.
5
Poisson’s ratio Diameter (mm)  Height (mm) Number Time (day)
0.18 (5.1%) 100  200 15 60
camera was used to capture the deformed images in every 6 s. A
facet size of 19 pixels and a point distance of 16 pixels were used
to analyze the deformed images which contain 6000 pixels and
3376 pixels in horizontal and vertical directions respectively and
350 dpi resolution in each direction. The relative slip of these spec-
imens on the other side was measured using LVDT. The pre-load
cycle was not applied to the samples measured with DIC.
The brace behind the specimen had a height of about 80 mm,
which allows the shear-off failure of timber under the shear load.
This is close to reality and is the common practice for most shear
tests in the literature. If the timber was braced on its full height
[12,17], the timber shear failure would be prevented, and the con-
nections would yield higher (and unrealistic) strength and stiffness
values.
Under the shear load, there was a tendency for concrete to uplift
due to the eccentricity of the applied horizontal load with respect
to the reaction force provided by the bearing edge of timber. Trial
tests showed that, without any restriction, the concrete uplift can
cause an early timber tensile failure perpendicular to grain. How-
ever, this effect is much less in real world MTPC composite floors
with large plane dimensions subjected to bending. In order to
restrict the uplift of concrete, an additional restraint with a load
cell was mounted on top of the specimen. A roller was placed
between the load cell and the specimen to allow horizontal move-
ment of concrete. The restraint carries a small load to the specimen
(b) Typical test setup in laboratory
6 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375

initiatively and then stay at this position afterwards. The vertical
reaction force caused by the uplift of concrete during the test
was recorded.
In previous experimental research on notched connections,
both single shear test (asymmetric specimens like this study)
[10,12,23,24] and double shear test (symmetric specimens with
the arrangement of timber-concrete-timber or concrete-timber-
concrete) [8,17,25,26] have been used. Irrespective of the test
set-up, the restriction perpendicular to the shear force has to be
applied to the specimen due to eccentricity of the shear force.
The impact of this restriction on the shear properties of notched
connections will be discussed later.
3. Test results
For each type of specimen, the load-slip curves measured from
six samples were averaged and the results are shown in Fig. 7. The
preloading cycle in the loading procedure was not considered in
the averaged curves.
The peak load obtained before failure is taken to be the shear
capacity Fmax of each specimen. The average Fmax for each type of
specimen are shown in Table 4. Also shown in Table 4 are the slip
modulus of the notched connections. Two slip moduli were derived
from this test, namely the serviceability slip modulus Kser and the
ultimate slip modulus Kult. The serviceability slip modulus Kser was
calculated from the slope of linear regression fit to the load-slip
data within 10 – 40% of the peak load. The ultimate slip modulus
Kult was calculated from
0:8F max
K ult ¼
m0:8
where v0.8 is the measured relative slip when 80% of the peak load
was reached.
The stiffness and strength of the notched connections shown in
Table 4 are for the specimens with 200 mm width; however, they
are often adjusted to one metre width in order to make compar-
isons to the results measured by other researchers. According to
Table 4, the adjusted serviceability stiffness for the notched con-
nections is in the range of 125–231 kN/mm per metre width for
transverse specimens and 667–1275 kN/mm per metre width for
longitudinal specimens. The adjusted strength for the notched con-
nections is in the range of 270–372 kN per metre width for trans-
verse specimens and 417–977 kN per metre width for longitudinal
specimens. The stiffness and strength of notched connections in
longitudinal direction have large variations due to varying geome-
try characteristics of the specimens. The notched connections con-
structed with GLT or stacked board and concrete tested by previous
researchers had average strength values of 450–900 kN per metre
width and average serviceability stiffness values of 700–1700 kN/
mm per metre width [26–29], both are overlapped with the
strength and stiffness values measured in this study. The variation
of the strength and stiffness of notched connections may come
from the way the connection test was constructed, the different
geometry characteristics of the connection and different material
properties. The variation of the slip modulus could also come from
different slip measurement methods. Since the stiffness of the con-
nection is determined based on the load increase divided by the
relative slip increase of two members under the shear load, the
way the relative slip is measured can affect the determination of
the stiffness. As Mönch and Kuhlmann [30] discussed, different slip
ð1Þ measurement methods within one specimen can potentially differ
by more than 100%.

200 200
L-10-250
L-25-250
150 150 L-40-250
Load (kN)
Load (kN)

100 100

L-25-150
50 50
L-25-250
L-25-350
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
Slip (mm) Slip (mm)

(a) Timber length in front of notch (b) Notch depth

200 200
L-25-250
T-25-180
150 150 T-25-180-timber
Load (kN)

T-25-180-concrete
Load (kN)

100 100

L-25-250
50 50
L-25-250-timber
L-25-250-concrete
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
Slip (mm) Slip (mm)

(c) Addition of screws (d) Timber orientation and addition of screws

Fig. 7. Averaged load-slip curves of notched connections under the shear load affected by different factors.
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
Table 4
Results obtained from the notched connection shear tests.
Specimen type Fmax (kN)
T-25–180 54.1 (14.7%)
T-25–180-concrete 74.3 (14.7%)
T-25–180-timber 67.8 (5.0%)
L-25–250 164.9 (2.5%)
L-10–250 83.4 (9.0%)
L-40–250 195.3 (11.6%)
L-25–150 117.5 (24.8%)
L-25–350 182.5 (6.2%)
L-25–250-concrete 178.8 (4.3%)
L-25–250-timber 173.0 (6.5%)
Note: Numbers in the brackets are the coefficients of variation.
The slip modulus of 1000 kN/mm per metre width is suggested
by some researchers for notch depths between 20 mm and 30 mm
[2,18]. In this study, the serviceability stiffness for the specimens in
longitudinal direction with a notch depth of 25 mm is slightly
above this value. However, the specimen with a notch depth of
40 mm only had a serviceability stiffness of 1167 kN/mm per
metre width, which is lower than the suggested value of 1500
kN/mm for the notch deeper than 30 mm [2,18]. This is probably
because the timber in front of notch is only 6.25 times of the notch
depth for specimen L-40–250 which is shorter than the suggested
length of 8 times of the notch depth [2,18].
The failure modes of the notched connections observed from
the test are defined as follows:
CC: Concrete cracking from the corner of notch.
TS: Timber in front of notch parallel to grain shear-off failure.
TR: Timber in front of notch rolling shear failure.
TT: Timber tensile failure perpendicular to grain.
TC: Timber in front of notch compression failure (parallel or
perpendicular to grain).
The concrete shear failure and crushing failure [31] were not
observed probably due to high strength concrete used in this study.
In general, a combination of failure modes was observed for each
type of specimen. Overall, these can be summarized into four fail-
ure patterns as shown in Table 4 and Fig. 8.
From Fig. 7 and Table 4, it could be seen that the specimens
with timber in the transverse direction showed low stiffness and
strength but had ductile failure modes. As shown in Fig. 8(a), for
specimens in transverse direction without screws T-25-180, the
failure was a combined timber rolling shear, tension and compres-
sion perpendicular to grain. The specimens with screws inserted
into notch T-25–180-concrete showed no obvious compression
failure of timber but an additional tensile crack in timber appeared
at an early stage at the position of screws, as shown in Fig. 8(b). The
specimens with screws inserted into timber in front of notch T-25-
180-timber failed mainly due to tension perpendicular to grain at
the edge of timber, as shown in Fig. 8(c). For all the specimens in
transverse direction, the concrete portion was almost intact with-
out any obvious signs of damage.
The specimens with timber in the longitudinal direction were
less ductile than transverse specimens with the exception of spec-
imen L-10-250. Different from the transverse specimens, the con-
crete in the longitudinal specimens cracked shortly at the corner
of notch after the loading started, usually before 40% of the peak
load was reached. The concrete crack can cause minor disturbance
in the load-slip curves for some specimens; however, this was
averaged out in the curves in Fig. 7. The crack in concrete could
propagate towards the top of the specimen, but there was no com-
plete fracture because of the steel mesh in the concrete. With the
increase of loading, two different failure modes could be observed
7
Kser (kN/mm) Kult (kN/mm) Failure pattern
25.1 (20.4%) 16.3 (19.0%) Combined TR, TC and TT
46.1 (20.3%) 23.4 (15.7%) Combined TR and TT
40.2 (22.7%) 20.5 (17.4%) Combined TR and TT
227.6 (22.4%) 191.1 (16.2%) CC followed by TS
133.4 (18.5%) 99.6 (12.3%) CC followed by TC
233.4 (5.9%) 214.2 (4.4%) CC followed by TS
231.3 (18.3%) 217.1 (13.8%) CC followed by TS
217.4 (21.1%) 145.9 (10.8%) CC followed by TS
229.2 (13.0%) 193.2 (20.9%) CC followed by TS
254.9 (10.9%) 225.3 (10.2%) CC followed by TS
for specimens in the longitudinal direction: while most of the spec-
imens failed exclusively due to timber shear-off in front of notch,
specimen L-10-250 (Fig. 8 (e)) failed due to timber crushing in
front of notch.
The specimen L-10-250 had the most ductile failure mode
among all the longitudinal specimens due to the nonlinear beha-
viour of wood under compression. Specimens L-25-150 and L-40-
250 were the most brittle types, this could be tell from their almost
linear to failure load-slip curves in Fig. 7. The reductions of their
ultimate stiffness Kult compared with their serviceability stiffness
Kser were less than 10%.
The specimen with the longest length of timber in front of notch
L-25-350 had moderate ductility as the load increased in a nonlin-
ear manner after an initial linear stage and a relatively large slip
was reached before the specimen failed. The nonlinearity of the
load-slip response came from the compression of timber in front
of notch. However, unlike the specimen L-10-250, the compressive
strength of timber in specimen L-25-350 was not fully developed
before the timber shear strength was reached.
The specimens L-25-250, L-25-250-timber, and L-25-250-
concrete showed limited ductility before the timber failed. The
screws in the connection did not improve the ductility. In fact,
the screws inserted into the notch failed to prevent crack propaga-
tion of concrete. Instead, the concrete tended to develop a crack at
a larger angle, as can be seen from Fig. 8(i). Screws inserted into the
timber in front of notch did not prevent shear failure of timber and
a minor crack in concrete was developed at the position of screws
in addition to the crack developed at the corner, as can be seen
from Fig. 8(j).
The timber was removed using a chisel and a hammer for spec-
imens with inserted screws to see the screw deformation. As
shown in Fig. 9, the screws were bent under the shear load at vary-
ing degrees. In general, the screws in transverse specimens bent
more than the screws in longitudinal specimens simply because
the longitudinal specimens failed early in timber before the screws
were able to deform further.
The displacement field in the notched region under the shear
load was captured using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method
in a few tests. Fig. 10 shows the horizontal displacement field of
one L-25–250 specimen at different load levels. In the initial elastic
stage before concrete cracking, Fig. 10(a), there was practically no
deformation in the timber part. The displacement field in concrete
was continuous but not uniform, which was caused by the slight
rotation of concrete due to eccentricity of the applied load. After
the concrete cracked (Fig. 10(b)), the displacement field of concrete
split into two. The front part of concrete had larger displacement
since it moved with the loading head while the rear part of con-
crete was restricted by timber from moving. At this stage, the
gap opening in the notch due to rotation of concrete was obvious.
With the increase in loading, the crack in concrete propagated to
the top. At the same time, the shear crack in timber in front of
8 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375

(a) T-25-180 (Combined TR, TC and (b) T-25-180-concrete (Combined (c) T-25-180-timber (Combined TR
TT) TR and TT) and TT)

(d) L-25-250 (CC followed by TS) (e) L-10-250 (CC followed by TC) (f) L-40-250 (CC followed by TS)

(g) L-25-150 (CC followed by TS) (h) L-25-350 (CC followed by TS)

(i) L-25-250-concrete (CC followed by TS) (j) L-25-250-timber (CC followed by TS)
Fig. 8. Typical failure mode for each type of specimen.

(a) T-25-180-concrete (b) T-25-180-timber (c) L-25-250-concrete (d) L-25-250-timber

Fig. 9. Deformation of screws in four types of specimens.

notch was initiated and propagated towards the end of timber
until the timber was completely sheared off, as can be seen from
Fig. 10(c) and (d). The contribution of the notch in resisting the
shear force was obvious from DIC images as the displacement field
around the bearing surface was always continuous at different
stages.
4. Discussion
Based on the test results, some important factors that affect the
performance of notched connections under the shear load, includ-
ing timber orientation, connection geometry, presence of addi-
tional steel fasteners, as well as testing and measurement
method, are discussed below. The moisture content change of tim-
ber due to concrete bleeding is also discussed.
4.1. Timber orientation
In MTPC composite floors, connections should be provided so
that the relative slip between concrete and timber in any direction
is controlled under gravity and lateral loads. For notched connec-
tions, due to the anisotropic nature of wood, the connections in
the transverse direction can only reach a fraction of the shear
stiffness and load-carrying capacity of that in the longitudinal
direction. Without any self-tapping screws, the connections in
the longitudinal direction have about 9 times of the serviceability
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
(a) Elastic stage before concrete cracking
(c) Before timber shear failure
Fig. 10. Typical horizontal displacement field of the notched connection captured using digital image correlation (DIC) method.
stiffness Kser and 2–3 times of the load-carrying capacity Fmax com-
pared to the connections in the transverse direction with the same
notch depth. This could be well explained by the measured mate-
rial properties of timber in Table 2 which shows that the modulus
of elasticity and compressive strength in the longitudinal direction
is 60 times and 14 times respectively of that in transverse direc-
tion. The huge disparity of the connection performance in two
directions would lead to challenges in using the notched connec-
tions in two-way slabs. For GLT-concrete composite floors, this is
not a major issue since GLT is mainly designed and used as one-
way slab in its main direction. However, for cross laminated timber
(CLT) slabs which are capable of bearing load biaxially (i.e. used as
two-way slabs), the notches in the secondary direction will have to
go deeper to reach the second layer in order to gain more resis-
tance [32].
4.2. Timber length
Comparing specimens L-25-150, L-25-250, and L-25-350
(Fig. 7(a)), it could be concluded that, with the increase of timber
length in front of notch, the strength of the connection also
increases. The strengths of connections L-25-150 and L-25-350
were 71% and 111% respectively of the strength of the standard
case L-25-250. The serviceability stiffness Kser for three types of
specimens were fairly close, with differences of less than 5%
between the standard case and the other two. The minor decreas-
ing trend of Kser with increased timber length could be related to
the slightly different serviceability range (10–40% of the peak load)
of different specimen types due to their different ultimate
strengths. The ultimate stiffness Kult of three types of specimens
differs more than their serviceability stiffness Kser. The reason is
that longer specimens have both increased load-carrying capacity
and ductility than shorter specimens. With increased timber
length, the specimens exhibited more nonlinear behaviour thus
9
(b) After concrete cracking
(d) After timber shear failure
significantly larger relative slip when 80% of the ultimate capacity
was approached.
According to German National Annex for EN 1995-1-1 [33], a
minimum timber length in front of notch should be no less than
eight times of the notch depth to reduce the risk of timber shear
failure. This seems to be not enough to prevent timber shear fail-
ure, since specimens L-25-250 and L-25-350 have timber lengths
that are 10 and 14 times of the notch depth respectively, but their
final failure mode was still timber shear-off. The tension test on the
halved and tabled tenoned timber scarf joints conducted by Aira
et al. [34] showed that, timber shear failure could even occur when
the length of timber was 22 times of the notched depth.
Since the specimens have different dimensions, characteristics
such as stiffness and strength of the connection that smeared along
the specimen axis is more comparable than the absolute values
[23]. Considering the total length (notch length plus timber length
which is also the spacing of connectors in the composite floors) of
specimens L-25-150, L-25-250, and L-25-350 (which were
300 mm, 400 mm, and 500 mm respectively), the normalized stiff-
ness and strength could be calculated by dividing the absolute val-
ues by the total connection length. The calculated normalized
stiffness (for both serviceability and ultimate) is in the order of
L-25-150 > L-25-250 > L-25-350 while the normalized strength is
in the order of L-25-250 > L-25-150 > L-25-350. In terms of ductil-
ity, longer specimens were more ductile than shorter specimens.
This result indicates that the optimal stiffness, strength and ductil-
ity may not be achievable in the same connection configuration
and longer specimens are not necessarily more efficient than
shorter specimens in terms of strength and stiffness.
4.3. Notch depth
Comparing specimens L-10-250, L-25-250, and L-40-250 (Fig. 7
(b)), it was concluded that the connection stiffness and strength
10 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375

both increase with notch depth but the failure mode becomes
more brittle. A significant rise of serviceability stiffness (71%) and
strength (98%) could be observed from 10 mm notch depth to
25 mm notch depth due to different failure mechanisms. Although
the failure mode for both L-25-250 and L-40-250 was timber shear
failure and they have the same timber length, the deeper notch in
specimen L-40-250 has larger eccentricity thus requiring a higher
load (18% more) to break the timber.
Dias et al. [18] suggested that the depth of the notched con-
nection should not be less than 20 mm for building applications.
In this study, the 10 mm deep notch was tested as a lower-
bound value for research purpose. Test results showed that a
shallow notch can fail in a ductile way but has low stiffness
and strength, while a deep notch improved stiffness and load-
carrying capacity but can fail in a very brittle way. A deep notch
can also seriously reduce the cross section of timber. The bend-
ing tests conducted by Gutkowski et al. [13] on composite beams
connected with notches showed that timber flexural failure often
occurred from the base of the notch. An optimal notch depth
should be able to provide sufficient shear resistance without
undermining the bending capacity of the timber member too
much.
4.4. Failure of timber
The failure mode for the notched connections in the longitudi-
nal direction was concrete cracking followed by timber failure
(either timber shear-off or timber crushing failure). For specimens
L-25-150, L-10-250, L-25-250, L-25-350, and L-40-250, their load-
carrying capacities were only dependent on the strength of timber,
since no screws were installed in these specimens. Fig. 11 shows
the peak strength of these specimens (mean value with standard
error) with respect to the length of timber in front of notch. Also
shown in Fig. 11 are the theoretical shear strength upper limit, FS
(line ①), which varies with timber length and theoretical compres-
sive strength upper limit, FC (line ②, ③, and ⑤), for different notch
depths. The theoretical shear strength upper limit, F s , is calculated
from
F S ¼ blSL
and the compressive strength upper limit, F c , is calculated from
L [31], as shown in Eq. (4).
F C ¼ bhf C
where
b: width of the specimen (200 mm).
l: length of timber in front of notch, mm.
h: depth of notch, mm.
SL: measured shear strength of timber in Table 2, MPa.
L
f C : measured compressive strength of timber parallel to grain in
Table 2, MPa.
It is seen from Fig. 11 that the strength of the notched connec-
tion increases with timber length and notch depth as discussed
before. However, the strength is not proportional to the timber
length or notch depth. In other words, the rate of strength increase
becomes smaller with the increase of timber length or notch depth.
Although the final failure modes for specimens L-25-150, L-25-250,
L-40-250, and L-25-350 are all timber shear-off failure, their
strengths are not even close to the shear strength upper limit FS
(line ①). Except for specimen L-10-250 (line ②), the strengths of
most connections are not close to their compressive strength upper
limit FC (line ③ and ⑤) either. This indicates that the design rules
[31,35] that often assume the strength of notched connection as
the minimal of pure timber shear strength (Eq. (2)) and pure tim-
ber compressive strength (Eq. (3)) can overestimate the actual
strength of notched connections.
One possible explanation for the deviation between the mea-
sured strength of connections and theoretical strength upper limits
is that, for the tested specimens, the stress state of timber at failure
was not pure shear or pure compression. Instead, the stress state is
complex with combined shear stress acting along the bottom of
timber and compression stress acting at the bearing surface, and
the stresses were not uniformly distributed but concentrated at
the front area of timber. Technically speaking, failure for all of
these specimens was started from local compression and local
shear concentrated at the front notch area.
Eq. (2) assumes uniform distribution of shear stresses along the
bottom of timber in front of notch. This is highly unlikely especially
when the timber in front of notch is long. The non-uniform shear
stress distribution along the timber length is recognized by
ð2Þ researchers [36] and a simplified solution to estimate the strength
of notched connections is to consider only the effective timber
length which is often assumed to be eight times of the notch depth
ð3Þ

F S ¼ 8hbSL ð4Þ
Nevertheless, Fig. 11 shows that, even if only eight times of the
notch depth is considered (line ④), the strength is still overesti-
L-25-150
400 mated for specimens L-25-250 and L-25-350. In fact, the effective
L-10-250 Compressive strength upper
limit for 40 mm notch depth length for specimens L-25-250 and L-25-350 is only about 5 times
350 L-25-250 of the notch depth is this study.
L-40-250 From Fig. 11, it could be observed that, for specimens L-25-150,
300 times of the notch depth (25 mm)
L-25-350 L-25-250, and L-25-350, with the increase of timber length, the
Strength (kN)

250 strengths of the connections deviate from the shear strength upper
Compressive strength upper
it
lim

limit for 25 mm notch depth limit FS (line ①) and approach their compressive strength upper
r

200
pe

limit FC (line ③). For specimens L-10-250, L-25-250, and L-40-

up
th

250, with the increase of notch depth, the strengths of the connec-
ng

150
tre

Compressive strength upper tions deviate from their respective compressive strength upper
rs

limit for 10 mm notch depth

ea

100 limits FC (line ②, ③, and ⑤) and approach the shear strength upper
Sh

limit FS (line ①).

50 For these specimens, since the timber in front of notch was rel-
0 atively long, failure did not happen immediately. Instead, the dam-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 age was initiated from the bottom surface of the notch due to
stress concentration, and then minor shear cracks and timber
Timber length (mm)
crushing caused the nonlinear behaviour of the connection. The
Fig. 11. Measured shear strengths of notched specimens compared with the minor cracks slowly propagate towards the end of timber. In this
strength upper limits. process, depending on the timber compressive strength, timber
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375 11

shear strength, the length of timber and the depth of notch, shear- Relative slip in this study was measured between the beginning
off failure or crushing failure of timber could happen. The higher of concrete protrusion and end of timber. The slip measured from
the ratio of timber length to notch depth is, the less the shear crack this method does not contain deformation from the main bodies of
spreads along the timber length. Specimen L-10-250 exhibited timber and concrete but only the deformation within the connec-
strength that was close to the compressive strength upper limit tion layer. The connections could be simplified as horizontal
FC (line ②), indicating that the failure was mostly due to timber springs in the connection layer in the composite beam modeling
compression. For specimens L-25-250 and L-25-350, the compres- in future studies. This slip measurement method is also less
sive strength plateau was not reached before the shear crack affected by the concrete cracking since the slip was measured
spread along the full length of timber, thus only limited nonlinear- between timber and the concrete behind the crack. If the slip
ity was noted before their final failure. was measured between timber and concrete in front of the crack,
the stiffness degradation induced by concrete cracking would seri-
ously affect the results. This can be seen from Fig. 12, which shows
4.5. Self-tapping screws as reinforcement
the comparison of the load-slip curves measured between different
locations using LVDT and DIC for one L-25–250 specimen. The
The effect of lag screws or self-tapping screws as additional
minor differences of slip between A and C measured using DIC
reinforcement on the performance of notched connections has
and LVDT was mainly caused by the rotation of specimen out of
been previously investigated [8,25]. Yeoh et al. [8] found that lag
plane. The slip measured between B and C is highly unrealistic,
screws inserted into the beam type notched connections (Fig. 1
as in real MTPC composite floors the movement of concrete in front
(a)) improved the slip modulus and enabled a more ductile failure
of the crack will be prevented by the next notch down the line
mode. However, Kudla et al. [25] found that for the slab type
(except for the edge).
notched connections (Fig. 1(b)), only the closely spaced self-
In this study, the asymmetric shear specimen and horizontal
tapping screws had an observable effect on the strength and stiff-
load application were designed to simulate notched connections
ness of the notched connections.
in real MTPC composite floors under bending. When the horizontal
In this study, two self-tapping screws at a spacing of
load is applied to the specimen, the concrete has a tendency to
100 mm were installed in four types of specimens. By compar-
rotate because of the eccentricity of the applied load. This rotation
ing the specimens with and without screws, some observations
was prevented by the load cell on top of the specimen and a reac-
could be drawn. As discussed before, without any steel fasten-
tion force was resulted. This top reaction force increased with the
ers, the connections in transverse direction were significantly
applied horizontal load and was approximately in the range of 22–
less effective than the connections in longitudinal direction.
33% of the horizontal load with higher reaction force found in
Thus it could be expected that same amount of self-tapping
shorter specimens or specimens with a deeper notch and lower
screws inserted into the connection would have different effects
reaction force found in longer specimens or specimens with a shal-
on specimens in different directions. For specimens in the
lower notch.
transverse direction, the screws increased the serviceability
The confining pressure applied to the connections that holds the
stiffness by about 70% and the shear capacity by about 30%
notched components together could have a positive effect on the
on average. The screws have also changed the failure mode of
shear performance of the connections [23]. An example is that, in
the connection from combined compression, tension, and rolling
concrete segmental bridges connected with keyed dry joints, not
shear failure to mainly tension failure. However, even with self-
only the ultimate shear strength and stiffness of the joints increase
tapping screws, the specimens in transverse direction were still
with confining stress, the ductility and crack pattern of the joints
too flexible compared to the longitudinal specimens, as can be
will also alter [37].
seen in Fig. 7(d).
Although the confining pressure does not necessarily exist in
For specimens in the longitudinal direction, the screws did not
real MTPC composite floors, it is extremely challenging to create
affect the failure mode of the connection greatly, and resulted in
the real boundary conditions for the notched connections in the
only minor increases in stiffness, strength and ductility of the con-
composite floors by taking out a segment and testing it in a shear
nections. Considering that two screws at a spacing of 100 mm were
test. Thus the confining pressure will always exist in the commonly
used in each specimen, the effect of a single screw on the shear
performance of the connection in longitudinal direction will be
even harder to detect. This also implied that the notched connec-
tions in longitudinal direction have stiffness remarkably higher 180
than self-tapping screws. Screws inserted to the notched connec-
tion at an angle or screws having larger diameters may have better
performance, but further investigation is required to substantiate 150
this.
Due to concrete shrinkage and timber drying, small gaps 120
Load (kN)

between timber and concrete could be observed in samples after A-C LVDT
the concrete has cured. The self-tapping screws inserted into the A-C DIC
90
connection did not completely prevent this gap opening. To reduce B-C DIC
the gap opening, post-tensioning dowels [11–14] or low shrinkage
concrete [9] could be used. The application of self-tapping screws 60
at mid-span of MTPC composite floors connected with notches is
still suggested by researchers [17] for the purpose of maintaining 30
the same curvature of timber and concrete under bending.

0
4.6. Testing method justification 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Slip (mm)
As discussed before, the testing method and slip measurement
technique affect the obtained results of the connection properties. Fig. 12. Comparison of load-slip curves measured using LVDT and DIC.
12 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
used shear test set-ups (double shear and asymmetric shear) no
matter it is applied through external load or reaction force from
constraint or friction. Monteiro et al. [38] conducted a numerical
parametric study on the notched connections and concluded that
different test set-ups would not significantly affect the obtained
results. The top load in this study was not acting proactively but
only existed as a reaction force. The concrete was allowed to move
freely in the horizontal direction without any significant increase
of friction between concrete and timber. Compared with the proac-
tively applied top load that existed from the beginning of test, the
effect of the top load is minimized in this study, thus the strength
and slip modulus of the connections obtained from this test could
be seemed as close to the true characteristics of the connections in
MTPC composite floors.
4.7. Moisture content changes of timber
In this study, the concrete was cast directly on top of timber
without any films or water proofing paint. After pouring concrete,
timber can absorb water from concrete and its moisture content
would rise. The moisture content change in timber due to concrete
bleeding has been investigated by researchers. Fragiacomo et al.
[12] measured the moisture content change at the surface of wood
after the concrete pouring using a moisture meter and they found
that the moisture content of wood at the interface with concrete
rose significantly in the first 5 days. However, a gradual reduction
to the initial moisture content was observed during the next
10 days.
In this study, the change in moisture content of wood with time
was not monitored. Instead, the moisture content of wood at the
interface with concrete and at the bottom of timber deck (inside
the deck, not on the surface), as shown in Fig. 13(a), was measured
right after the shear test (which was about 50 days after concrete
pouring) through oven dry method for the L-40-250 specimens.
The results (mean value with standard error) are shown in
Fig. 13(b). As can be seen, for specimens 1, 2, and 3, the moisture
content values at top and bottom of timber are very close. For spec-
imens 4, 5, and 6, the moisture content at interface is slightly
higher than the moisture content at bottom. This result indicates
that it may take a long time for timber to completely recover to
a uniform moisture content. Nevertheless, the discrepancy of the
moisture content at top and bottom is not significant (less than
1.6%).
Tests conducted by LeBorgne and Gutkowski [14] showed that,
by coating the wood with water proofing paint, moisture absorp-
tion by wood from the concrete can be reduced, which could help
to maintain a tight interface between wood and concrete.
(a)
Fig. 13. Moisture content measurement. (a) Moisture content samples cut from specimen type L-40–250, and (b) Moisture content at different positions of six specimens
from type L-40–250.
4.8. Implications for the furture work
In summary, test results from this study serve as an important
reference for the next step of a current project that focuses on
optimal design of the notched connections in composite floors,
derivation of design equations, and numerical modeling to predict
load-carrying capacity and stiffness of the notched connections.
4.8.1. Optimal design of the notched connections in MTPC composite
floors
There are infinite possibilities of the notched connection
arrangement in a given MTPC composite floor. The optimum
design of the connections could lead to composite floor systems
that are competitive with other types of floor systems built with
concrete and steel. In building applications, the length of notch is
often suggested to be not less than 150 mm [18]. Without under-
mining the bending capacity of the timber member, a deeper
notched could reach higher stiffness and strength. For the length
of timber in front of notch, the smeared stiffness of the connections
obtained from this study suggests that a shorter connection (a den-
ser arrangement) could reach a stiffer composite behaviour. How-
ever, as Kuhlmann and Schänzlin [39] put it, the relationship
between the effective stiffness of the floor and the stiffness of
the connections is nonlinear. Once the stiffness of the connections
reached a certain value, the continuing increase of the connection
stiffness will only make little contributions to the composite beha-
viour. Thus, the notches should be spaced to be close to this thresh-
old to prevent the unnecessary labour work and minimize the cost.
The varying notch depth, notch width, or notch spacing along the
composite floor [24] should also be optimized for different loading
cases.
4.8.2. Derivation of design equations for the notched connections
The existing design equations for the notched connections are
often assuming uniform distribution of compression and shear
stresses in the timber. However, the stress distribution is highly
non-uniform especially for the shear stress [36]. When the timber
in front of notch is long enough, the ultimate compressive strength
of timber may be reached, however, the ultimate shear strength
will hardly be reached regardless of the timber length. Although
reduction factors could be applied to the timber shear strength
[34] or the effective shear length could be assumed [31] to prevent
overestimation of design equations, it is often subjective and not
accurate. From the DIC captured displacement field, it could be
seen that the shear failure of timber is actually a crack propagation
process. Thus, fracture mechanics could be applied to derive more
11% Upper position
Bottom position
10%
Moisture content
9%
8%
7%
1 2 3 4 5 6
Specimen number
(b)
 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
accurate design equations to predict the strength of the notched
connections.
4.8.3. Numerical modeling of the notched connections
Previous studies on numerical modeling to predict strength
and stiffness of notched connections or composite floors con-
nected with notches are scarce [17,40]. Existing finite element
models are mostly restricted to the elastic stage. Since the con-
crete crack at an early stage, a model that contains the damage
laws for the materials should be more realistic. In order to model
the whole process of the connection under shear, the model
needs to capture both cracking of concrete and the crushing
and shear failure of timber. Thus, the elasto-plastic constitutive
laws for concrete and wood need to be defined. Shear failure of
timber is not sudden or abrupt but more close to a mode II crack
propagation process. Since the shear failure plane is predictable, a
crack path could be predefined [36,40] so the crack propagation
process could be modeled.
5. Conclusions
The following conclusions could be drawn from this experimen-
tal study:
1. Due to the anisotropic nature of timber, connections with tim-
ber in the longitudinal direction have significantly higher
strength and stiffness than connections with timber in the
transverse direction. While addition of self-tapping screws can
help improve the shear behaviour of the connection in trans-
verse direction to some extent, the two-way application of the
mass timber panel-concrete composite floor is still a challenge
using the notches.
2. The length of timber in front of notch is an important factor in
designing the notched connections. With the increase of timber
length, the strength of the connection will increase until an
upper limit is reached. At the same time, the failure mode of
the connection will change from brittle timber shear failure to
ductile timber compression failure. The obtained normalized
stiffness and strength show that longer notched connections
are not necessarily more efficient than shorter notched
connections.
3. The depth of the notch is another important design factor. With
the increase of notch depth, the stiffness and strength of the
connection both increase. However, a deeper notch can reduce
the cross section of the timber member thus potentially causing
an early failure of timber under bending. A reasonable notch
depth should have enough shear resistance without compro-
mising the bending strength of the timber member.
4. The self-tapping screws inserted into the notched connection
can improve the strength and stiffness of specimens in trans-
verse direction. For specimens in longitudinal direction, the
contribution of self-tapping screws to the stiffness, strength
and failure mode is negligible.
The long-term effect of notched connections due to shrinkage of
concrete, moisture content change of timber, and creep of two
materials was not addressed in this study and should be investi-
gated in the future.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
13
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (NSERC) through the Industrial Research Chair grant pro-
gram. The authors are also thankful to Western Archrib and Rotho-
blaas for providing the materials used in this project.
References
[1] D. Yeoh, M. Fragiacomo, M.D. Franceschi, K.H. Boon, State of the art on timber-
concrete composite structures: Literature review, J. Struct. Eng. 137 (10)
(2011) 1085–1095, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)st.1943-541x.0000353.
[2] A. Dias, J. Schänzlin, P. Dietsch, Design of timber-concrete composite
structures: A state-of-the-art report by COST Action FP1402 / WG 4, Shaker
Verlag Aachen, 2018.
[3] A.M.P.G. Dias, L.F.C. Jorge, The effect of ductile connectors on the behaviour of
timber-concrete composite beams, Eng. Struct. 33 (11) (2011) 3033–3042,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2011.05.014.
[4] A. Ceccotti, Composite concrete-timber structures, Prog. Struct. Eng. Mat. 4
(2002) 264–275, https://doi.org/10.1002/pse.126.
[5] M.V.D. Linden, Timber-concrete composite beams, HERON 44 (3) (1999) 215–
239.
[6] B.L. Deam, M. Fragiacomo, A.H. Buchanan, Connections for composite concrete
slab and LVL flooring systems, Mater. Struct. 41 (2008) 495–507, https://doi.
org/10.1617/s11527-007-9261-x.
[7] E. Lukaszewska, H. Johnsson, M. Fragiacomo, Performance of connections for
prefabricated timber–concrete composite floors, Mater. Struct. 41 (2008)
1533–1550, https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-007-9346-6.
[8] D. Yeoh, M. Fragiacomo, M.D. Franceschi, A.H. Buchanan, Experimental tests of
notched and plate connectors for LVL-concrete composite beams, J. Struct. Eng.
137 (2) (2011) 261–269, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)st.1943-541x.0000288.
[9] D. Yeoh, M. Fragiacomo, B. Deam, Experimental behaviour of LVL – concrete
composite floor beams at strength limit state, Eng. Struct. 33 (9) (2011) 2697–
2707, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2011.05.021.
[10] S.C. Auclair, L. Sorelli, A. Salenikovich, A new composite connector for timber-
concrete composite structures, Constr. Build. Mater. 112 (2016) 84–92, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.02.025.
[11] R.M. Gutkowski, K. Brown, A. Shigidi, J. Natterer, Investigation of notched
composite wood–concrete connections, J. Struct. Eng. 130 (10) (2004) 1553–
1561, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)0733-9445(2004) 130:10(1553).
[12] M. Fragiacomo, R.M. Gutkowski, J. Balogh, R.S. Fast, Long-term behavior of
wood-concrete composite floor/deck systems with shear key connection
detail, J. Struct. Eng. 133 (9) (2007) 1307–1315, https://doi.org/10.1061/
(asce)0733-9445(2007) 133:9(1307).
[13] R. Gutkowski, K. Brown, A. Shigidi, J. Natterer, Laboratory tests of composite
wood–concrete beams, Constr. Build. Mater. 22 (2008) 1059–1066, https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2007.03.013.
[14] M.R. Leborgne, R.M. Gutkowski, Effects of various admixtures and shear keys
in wood – concrete composite beams, Constr. Build. Mater. 24 (2010) 1730–
1738, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.02.016.
[15] L. Boccadoro, A. Frangi, Experimental analysis of the structural behavior of
timber-concrete composite slabs made of beech-laminated veneer lumber, J.
Perform. Constr. Fac. 28 (6) (2014) A4014006, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)
cf.1943-5509.0000552.
[16] K. Müller, A. Frangi, Four-point bending tests of timber-concrete composite
slabs with micro-notches, World conference on timber engineering, Republic
of Korea, 2018.
[17] Y. Jiang, R. Crocetti, CLT-concrete composite floors with notched shear
connectors, Constr. Build. Mater. 195 (2019) 127–139, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.11.066.
[18] A.M.P.G. Dias, U. Kuhlmann, K. Kudla, S. Mönch, A.M.A. Dias, Performance of
dowel-type fasteners and notches for hybrid timber structures, Eng. Struct.
171 (2018) 40–46, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.05.057.
[19] ASTM International. ASTM D143-14 Standard Test Methods for Small Clear
Specimens of Timber. West Conshohocken, PA; ASTM International, 2014, doi:
10.1520/D0143-14.
[20] ASTM International. ASTM C39/C39M-18 Standard Test Method for
Compressive Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens. West
Conshohocken, PA; ASTM International, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1520/
C0039_C0039M-18.
[21] ASTM International. ASTM C469/C469M-14 Standard Test Method for Static
Modulus of Elasticity and Poisson’s Ratio of Concrete in Compression. West
Conshohocken, PA; ASTM International, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1520/
C0469_C0469M-14.
[22] EN 26891, Timber Structures – Joints made with Mechanical Fasteners –
General Principles for the Determination of Strength and Deformation
Characteristics, Comite Europeen de Normalisation, Brussels, Belgium, 1991.
[23] M.V.D. Linden, Timber-concrete composite floor systems (Doctoral Thesis),
Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands, 1999.
[24] L. Boccadoro, Timber-concrete composite slabs made of beech laminated
veneer lumber with notched connection (Doctoral Thesis), ETH Zurich,
Switzerland, 2016.
14 L. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117375
[25] K. Kudla, S. Mönch, U. Kuhlmann, D. Volk, T. Götz. Investigations on the slip
modulus of a notched connection in timber-concrete composite floors, World
conference on timber engineering, Austria, 2016.
[26] U. Kuhlmann, S. Mönch, Design Parameters of Notched Connections for TCC
Structures as Part of Eurocode 5, International network on timber engineering
research, Estonia, 2018.
[27] B.C. Michelfelder, Trag- und Verformungsverhalten von Kerven bei
Brettstapel-Beton-Verbunddecken (Doctoral Thesis), University of Stuttgart,
Germany, 2006.
[28] F. Schönborn, Holz-Beton-Fertigteilelemente (Doctoral Thesis), Leopold-
Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria, 2006.
[29] A. Simon, Analyse zum Trag- und Verformungsverhalten von Straßenbrücken
in Holz-Beton-Verbundbauweise (Doctoral Thesis), Bauhaus-Universität
Weimar, Germany, 2008.
[30] S. Mönch, U. Kuhlmann, Investigations on the effects of geometry in timber-
concrete composite push-out tests with notched connections, World
conference on timber engineering, Republic of Korea, 2018.
[31] F. Schönborn, M. Flach, J. Feix, Bemessungsregeln und Ausführungshinweise
für Schubkerven im Holz-Beton-Verbundbau, Beton-und Stahlbetonbau 106
(6) (2011) 385–393, https://doi.org/10.1002/best.201100013.
[32] S. Loebus, P. Dietsch, S. Winter, Two-way spanning CLT-concrete composite
slab, International Network on Timber Engineering Research, Japan, 2017.
[33] DIN EN 1995-1-1, Eurocode 5 Bemessung und Konstruktion von Holzbauten -
Allgemeines – Allgemeine Regeln und Regeln für den Hochbau, Berlin,
Germany, Deutsches Institut für Normung, 2013.
[34] J.R. Aira, F. Arriaga, G. Íñiguez-gonzález, M. Guaita, Failure modes in halved and
tabled tenoned timber scarf joint by tension test, Constr. Build. Mater. 96
(2015) 360–367, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.08.107.
[35] D. Yeoh, Behaviour and design of timber-concrete composite floor system
(Doctoral Thesis), University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2010.
[36] J.R. Aira, T. Descamps, L.V. Parys, L. Léoskool, Study of stress distribution and
stress concentration factor in notched wood pieces with cohesive surfaces,
Eur. J. Wood. Prod. 73 (2015) 325–334, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-015-
0891-3.
[37] R. Shamass, X. Zhou, G. Alfano, Finite-element analysis of shear-off failure of
keyed dry joints in precast concrete segmental bridges, J. Bridge Eng. 20 (6)
(2015) 04014084, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000669.
[38] S.R.S. Monteiro, A.M.P.G. Dias, J.H.J.O. Negrão, Assessment of timber—concrete
connections made with glued notches: test set-up and numerical modeling,
Exp. Techniques. 37 (2) (2013) 50–65, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-
1567.2011.00804.x.
[39] U. Kuhlmann, J. Schänzlin, Grooves as shear connectors for timber-concrete
composite decks, Proceedings of the International RILEM Symposium on Joints
in Timber Structures, Germany, 2001.
[40] C. Bedon, M. Fragiacomo, Three-dimensional modelling of notched
connections for timber–concrete composite beams, Struct. Eng. Int. 27 (2)
(2017) 184–196, https://doi.org/10.2749/101686617X14881932435295.