| Metal plate connections (MPC) are a very important element in the truss design industry; however, they are considered the least understood part and their design is not well understood. The complications in MPC joint modeling, analysis, and design are related to the combined nature of the metal plate and wood as well as the geometry of the system. Widespread use of metal plate connections to connect wood-truss-joints (in industrial buildings, residential and housing, and commercial buildings) opened the doors to create opportunities for more research in studying the behavior of MPC's. Thus, the need for an accurate understanding of the performance and properties of the metal plate connectors and the wood members has risen to get an efficient and accurate analysis and design of MPC which could mean major savings in time and money. None of the previous research in metal plate connections contained measurements of the entire surface displacements or strain (local) of the metal plate connections. The measurement of strain (displacements) plays an important role in experimental stress analysis and in the evaluation of material properties. Several experimental methods and devices are used to measure displacements: Moire techniques, laser speckle, Strain gauges etc. However, digital image correlation (DIC) has been successfully applied to measure the full-field strain and displacements. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is a well-established approach that is used to find the full-field strain (local) measurements for MP connected joint surface. The MPC were studied in four-tensile joint configuration and heel joint. 2D-DIC code is used to find the full-field strain measurements. The results from the DIC are used to find the yielding stress for the first test AA under tensile force. The heel joint full-field strain measurements show the changes in the strain under loading and the influence of the rotation of the top chord wood member. |
