Flexural Performance of Novel Nail-Cross-Laminated Timber Composite Panels

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an innovative wood panel composite that has been attracting growing interest worldwide. Apart from its economic benefits, CLT takes full advantage of both the tensile strength parallel to the wood grain and its compressive strength perpendicular to the grain, which enhances the load bearing capacity of the composite. However, traditional CLT panels are made with glue, which can expire and lose effectiveness over time, compromising the CLT panel mechanical strength. To mitigate such shortcomings of conventional CLT panels, we pioneer herein nail-cross-laminated timber (NCLT) panels with more reliable connection system. This study investigates the flexural performance of NCLT panels made with different types of nails and explores the effects of key design parameters including the nail incidence angle, nail type, total number of nails, and number of layers. Results show that NCLT panels have better flexural performance than traditional CLT panels. The failure mode of NCLT panels depends on the nail angle, nail type, and quantity of nails. A modified formula for predicting the flexural bearing capacity of NCLT panels was proposed and proven accurate. The findings could blaze the trail for potential applications of NCLT panels as a sustainable and resilient construction composite for lightweight structures.