Modern timber design approaches for traditional Japanese architecture: analytical, experimental, and numerical approaches for the Nuki joint

This work fully investigates a specific timber joinery connection via experimental, analytical, and numerical methods. The selected joint is the Nuki joint: a mortised column with through-beam tenon. The experimental approach takes advantage of digital fabrication to reduce variations introduced by hand fabrication while the analytical approach builds on state-of-the-art embedment stress models. Material tests are used to calibrate the non-linear finite element model and analysis of the connection. Furthermore, the difference in behavior between prototypes of various beam thicknesses is examined across analysis approaches. This work not only sets out a workflow for digital fabrication, physical testing, and structural analysis for more complex joinery geometries, but also discusses the challenges and relevance of its application towards a reference library of joinery connections for modern timber construction.