Bolt-bearing strength and its relationship to mechanical properties of wood,evaluated in six Indonesian tropical hardwoods

Bearing strength largely affects the performance of wood connections. This study, determines the bearing strengths of six Indonesian tropical hardwoods with different specific gravities (ranging from 0.43 to 0.84) by half-hole testing. The results for three bolt diameters were compared to the bearing strengths in the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) and the National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction. Next, the bolt-bearing strengths were related to the specific gravities and mechanical properties of the woods. With increasing specific gravity, the bearing strength increased from 26 to 70 MPa. The experimentally obtained bearing strengths of light and heavy red meranti, mersawa, kapur and bangkirai woods were 3–15% and 11–23% lower than the SNI and NDS values, respectively. In contrast, the experimental result for merbau was 23 and 11% higher than the SNI and NDS values, respectively. The bearing strength most closely approached the compression strength parallel to the grain.