Split Ring: Wednesday's Word(s) Of The Week

Split rings are similar to shear plates in the way that they grip wood around a bolt to increase the strength of a joint. While shear plates are installed flush to a single piece of wood (so they can be used at a wood/steel joint or a wood/wood joint with matching shear plates), split rings are a single piece of hardware that fits into two pieces of wood at the same time. Split rings have somewhat higher design capacity than shear plates.

Because the split ring engages both pieces of wood directly, there is very little play in the joint (a shear plate has some play at the bolt hole.) This can be good at a joint with a single split ring, parts fit precisely. However, connections with multiple split rings are nearly impossible to fabricate and assemble, because it is so difficult to align split ring routes precisely. 

Split rings must ship loose, and with the known difficulty of field assembly, they are very rarely used in comparison to shear plates. Split rings come in two sizes: 2½" and 4" diameter.

*Wednesday's Word Of The Week is a feature on Unalam's Wood Times Blog. Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, will discuss a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.