A Numerical Study on the Fire Performance of Straight Tenon Joints with Dowel

In order to investigate the fire resisting performance of straight tenon joints with dowel, the numerical model of wood joint about the temperature field was established by adopting the finite element method to achieve the temperature distribution at each component and essential section of this joint, which was verified to have the satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. The sequential coupling method was utilized to simulate the thermal–mechanical coupling field and the residual bearing capacity of straight tenon joints with dowel under high temperature was further analyzed. The stress nephogram used for determining the failure modes of joints under different high-temperature conditions was obtained from above numerical analysis, and the corresponding mechanical performance indexes of joints including the bending moment-rotation angle curve, rotational stiffness, yield and maximum bending moments under different temperatures were perfectly achieved. The analytical results show that the mechanical performance of joints is dramatically influenced by the incurred heating temperature, and the percentage of residual bearing capacity about the rotational stiffness, yield and maximum bending moments of joints decreases gradually with the increase of the maximum temperature.