Evaluation of hardening models to simulate joints in timber shear walls

The properties of sheathing-to-framing joints considerably affect the load carrying capacity of a light-frame timber shear wall. A fastener with isotropic or kinematic hardening properties is modelled for the sheathing-to-framing joints with a zero-length element, with coupled properties in two perpendicular (orthogonal translational) directions to avoid the overestimation achieved with an uncoupled alternative. A single fastener experiment is performed to determine the elastic and plastic properties. For both fastener level and wall level modelling, monotonic as well as cyclic loading scheme is analysed. A concept of modelling the elasto-plastic coupled behaviour with hardening of the connector model for the fasteners is suggested. A damage response of the fastener is also studied to estimate the failure in load capacity of the connector model and decrease in the wall capacity after the maximum loading.