Friction damping at contact surface of timber connections is an important element of vibration energy dissipation of timber constructions and can be increased when the timber joints are pre-stressed. In this study, non-pre-stressed and pre-stressed timber joints are tested via shaking table and quasi-static cyclic loading tests. The pre-stressed joints are obtained by applying axial pre-tension force to their steel fasteners. Test results show great increase of friction damping is found in the pre-stressed joints. In addition, hysteretic damping of the pre-stressed joints decreases slightly when cyclic load at the same rotation level is continuously applied up to five cycles. Examination of dynamic properties of both joints in shaking table tests confirms the increase of friction damping capacity and dynamic stiffness of the pre-stressed joints. However, this great increase of friction damping obtained through fastener pre-tensioning decreases due to stress relaxation.
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