Splitting of timber beams caused by perpendicular to grain forces of multiple connections

Beams, which are loaded perpendicular to grain by connections along the span, may fail by splitting. Empirical and semi-empirical models assume that when multiple connections are spaced more than twice the beam depth, the splitting strength of each connection is not influenced. New evidence has emerged from recent laboratory experiments, with up to five connections per beam, which proves that this assumption does not hold and results in a non-conservative estimation of the splitting capacity. Evaluation of the test data shows that a simple adjustment factor can be derived to account for multiple connections that fit well into the current Eurocode 5 fracture model.