The growing emphasis on sustainable construction has established Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) as a cornerstone of modern timber structures. However, its dependence on adhesives raises environmental and recyclability concerns. This study proposes an adhesive-free Wooden-Nail Cross-Laminated Timber (WNCLT) system utilizing high-strength wooden nails and investigates its hysteretic behavior under cyclic loading. Experimental and analytical studies were conducted on three-layer spruce WNCLT shear walls, examining the effects of nail connection density (single-nail S-type and double-nail D-type) and insertion angle (0° and 30°) on lateral resistance, stiffness, deformation, and energy dissipation capacity. Results demonstrate that wall deformation is governed by a rocking-shear coupling mechanism, with shear deformation contributing over 76 % of the total displacement. Inclined nail insertion activated withdrawal resistance and optimized shear transfer, particularly in D-type configurations, enhancing lateral resistance approximately 19 % to 20 %, stiffness by 57 % to 81 %, and energy dissipation capacity by up to 258 % compared to their vertical (0°) counterparts. The tension-shear coupling mechanism effectively suppressed strength degradation and improved energy dissipation. Furthermore, a simplified analytical model was developed to predict wall capacity and failure modes, showing good agreement with experimental results. This study provides both experimental evidence and theoretical guidance for developing sustainable, adhesive-free, and metal-free engineered wood structures. • WNCLT wall deformation is shear-dominated (>76 %); S-type fails by nail fracture, D-type by hold-down screw fracture. • Higher wooden nail connection density and oblique insertion effectively reduce wall strength degradation. • D-type walls enhance tension-shear energy dissipation through nail density and angle synergy. • The developed simplified model can accurately capture the primary failure behavior of WNCLT walls.
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.