Thermomechanical Analysis of Steel-to-Timber Connections under Fire and the Material Density Effect

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this paper, the thermodynamic and mechanical properties of steel and wood structures with three different densities of wood are analyzed by finite element method, which should be used for the safety design of typical steel-wood joints under fire and tensile loads. However, there are several questions not mentioned or clearly clarified by the authors, so the manuscript should be revised before publication.

 

1)     In line 74, Page 2, the number of wood components in Figure 1 looks like two pieces, whereas in the actual structure the wood is one piece.

2) In line 103, Page 3, the titles in Figure 4 and Figure 5 are exactly the same.

3) In line 126, Page 4, in Figure 8, is it necessary to supplement the thermal conductivity of the three different woods used in the experiment.

4) In line 255, Page 9, the inner illustrations in Figures 14 and 15 are not legible.

5) In line 256 and 268, Page 9, the first line of the paragraph is not indented.

6) In line 277, Page 9, “Also, the region surrounding the dowels and near the steel plates presents lower temperatures.” Whether “lower” in this sentence should be corrected to “higher”.

7) GL20H wood has the lowest density, should it have the lowest thermal conductivity? Why does GL20H wood have the highest internal temperature after finite element analysis?

8) The reference format is not standard, and the journal title is full or short.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

In this paper, the thermodynamic and mechanical properties of steel and wood structures with three different densities of wood are analyzed by finite element method, which should be used for the safety design of typical steel-wood joints under fire and tensile loads. However, there are several questions not mentioned or clearly clarified by the authors, so the manuscript should be revised before publication.

ANSWER – The authors thank the reviewer for his time and detailed review, constructive comments, and suggestions to improve our manuscript. All comments will be addressed. The introductions in the manuscript have been introduced highlighted in blue.

1) In line 74, Page 2, the number of wood components in Figure 1 looks like two pieces, whereas in the actual structure the wood is one piece.

ANSWER – The entire connection in study has two wood pieces and two steel plates externally, according to the representation in Figure 1. During the developed work only one-half of the model was considered with the symmetry plane in the vertical direction.

2) In line 103, Page 3, the titles in Figure 4 and Figure 5 are exactly the same.

ANSWER – The authors thank the reviewer. The titles in the Figures 3, 4 and 5 were corrected.

3) In line 126, Page 4, in Figure 8, is it necessary to supplement the thermal conductivity of the three different woods used in the experiment.

ANSWER –The adopted wood thermal properties in this work are temperature dependent and independent of the wood specie, being defined by Eurocode 5, part 1.2 [13].

4) In line 255, Page 9, the inner illustrations in Figures 14 and 15 are not legible.

ANSWER –The authors thank the reviewer. The inner illustrations in Figures 14 and 15 were increased.

5) In line 256 and 268, Page 9, the first line of the paragraph is not indented.

ANSWER –The first lines 256 and 268 were indented.

6) In line 277, Page 9, “Also, the region surrounding the dowels and near the steel plates presents lower temperatures.” Whether “lower” in this sentence should be corrected to “higher”.

ANSWER –The authors thank the reviewer. The sentence was corrected.

7) GL20H wood has the lowest density, should it have the lowest thermal conductivity? Why does GL20H wood have the highest internal temperature after finite element analysis?

ANSWER – The GL20H wood has the lowest density, but its material property of the thermal conductivity is dependent of the temperature, and is the same from the other species, according to the referenced value from Eurocode 5, part 1-2. The highest internal temperature in the connection in GL20H wood is due the lowest density and the higher thermal conduction when compared with the other species.

8) The reference format is not standard, and the journal title is full or short.

ANSWER –The authors thank the reviewer. The reference format was corrected.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Before the Editor makes a decision, I suggest that the authors must take into account the following corrections:

1.      The title should be rewritten to be friendly.

2.       The author should explain the novelty clearly in the abstract and conclusion.

3.      The introduction section must be more concise.

4.       The paper should be carefully revised for punctuation, grammar, spelling mistakes and sentences structuring.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

Before the Editor makes a decision, I suggest that the authors must take into account the following corrections:

ANSWER – The authors thank the reviewer for his time and detailed review, constructive comments, and suggestions to improve our manuscript. All comments will be addressed. News introductions in the manuscript have been introduced highlighted in blue.

1. The title should be rewritten to be friendly.

ANSWER –The title was corrected to be friendly.

2. The author should explain the novelty clearly in the abstract and conclusion.

ANSWER –The abstract and conclusion were increased to explain the novelty of the work.

3. The introduction section must be more concise.

ANSWER –The Introduction has been rewritten and new references have been included.

4. The paper should be carefully revised for punctuation, grammar, spelling mistakes and sentences structuring.

ANSWER – All modifications or additions, for the English language, were introduced in the manuscript.

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is focused on a numerical analysis only. It would be very interesting to compare the results with some experiments (own or cited).

Author Response

Reviewer 3

The paper is focused on a numerical analysis only. It would be very interesting to compare the results with some experiments (own or cited).

 

ANSWER – The authors thank the reviewer for his time and detailed review, constructive comments, and suggestions to improve our manuscript. News introductions in the manuscript have been introduced highlighted in blue, to try to compare our observations with the results presented by Szász [2].

[2] Szász, A.; Hlavicka, V.; Lublóy, E.; Biró, A. Numerical modelling of the fire resistance of double sheared steel-to-timber con-nections. J. Build. Eng. 2021, 37, 102150.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accept for this version