Design Eurotec Brackets to Eurocode 5

Eurotec (E.u.r.o.Tec GmbH) is a German manufacturer of fastening and connection technology, founded in 1999 and based in Hagen. Alongside its screws and concrete fixings it produces face-fixed steel brackets and hold-downs for load-bearing timber connections. These are assessed under ETA-19/0020, a European Technical Assessment issued by ETA-Danmark against EAD 130186-00-0603 for three-dimensional nailing plates. SPEC Toolbox designs them to Eurocode 5 on the characteristic capacities of that assessment.

Plates are pre-galvanized steel 2.5 to 4 mm thick, in S355 for the hold-downs, S250GD with Z275 for the angle brackets, shear plate, tension straps, CLT System Angle and corner bracket, and S235 for the HH and HB flat shear angles, with base plates of 10, 12 and 40 mm. Brackets are fixed to timber with Eurotec connector nails, self-tapping screws (WBS, Paneltwistec, VSS or KonstruX), bolts or Ideefix connectors, and to concrete or steel with bolts or metal anchors.

Hold-downs

• Tension rod 340 and Tension rod 440, each with a 10 mm pressure plate.
• Hold-down High Load, with a 40 mm pressure plate.

Angle brackets and shear angles

• Shear angle 230×120, also with a 6 mm Sonotec SK04 interlayer and with the base plate 230 for fixing to concrete or steel.
• HH and HB flat shear angles, the HB also with the base plate 230.
• CLT System Angle, in screwed and bolted configurations.

Shear plates

• Shear plate 240×230.

Tension straps

• HH60, HB60, HH70 and HB70.
• Highload HH640, HH760 and HH820, in hardened S355 carbon steel, galvanized.

Corner brackets

• 3D Inside Corner, in screwed and bolted configurations.

The Highload tension straps are supplied by Eurotec in addition to the families assessed in ETA-19/0020.

• Timber-to-timber, timber-to-concrete and timber-to-steel connections.
• Solid timber, glulam, LVL and CLT, with characteristic density from 290 to 460 kg/m³.
• Tension and uplift (F1), shear (F2 and F3) and lateral (F4 and F5) load directions, with a combined-force interaction.
• Fixing with connector nails, screws, bolts or Ideefix connectors.
• Service classes 1 and 2, and service class 3 with corrosion protection to Eurocode 5.

• Five assessed load directions with an interaction check. Capacities are assessed in F1 (uplift), F2 and F3 (shear) and F4 and F5 (lateral), combined through a quadratic interaction. F4 and F5 oppose each other, so only one acts at a time.
• A corner bracket for the CLT wall-to-wall-to-floor node. The 3D Inside Corner is assessed as four fixed fastener configurations at 400 kg/m³, each with its own capacities and slip moduli rather than a per-fastener calculation.
• Each fastening option carries its own capacity. The CLT System Angle takes 5 mm screws, bolts or Ideefix connectors, and the Ideefix lateral capacity is keyed to the angle between load and outer CLT layer grain, 20.8 kN at 0 degrees falling to 16.9 kN at 90 degrees.
• Assessed ductility for CLT shear walls. Where ringed-shank nails or 5 mm screws fix the shear angle 230×120 or the CLT System Angle in timber-to-timber connections with an interlayer, the static ductility ratio in shear exceeds 4, so ductility class DCM may be assumed under earthquake loading.
• Slip moduli for serviceability. Slip moduli are given per bracket and direction: fixed values for the HH and HB shear angles, secant values at a reference slip for the CLT System Angle, and a set per configuration for the corner bracket.

Eurotec brackets are available in the bracket connection module and CLT Shear wall calculator, worked to Eurocode 5, by connection function: hold-down, for tension and uplift anchorage; angle bracket and shear angle, for shear and combined loading; shear plate; tension strap; and the CLT wall-to-wall-to-floor corner connection. Capacities are selected for the assigned strength class and density, the fastener set and the load direction, with the combined-force interaction applied and end, edge and spacing per the assessment and Eurocode 5.

Design follows Eurocode 5 (EN 1995-1-1). ETA-19/0020 gives characteristic capacities in the F1 (tension and uplift), F2 and F3 (shear) and F4 and F5 (lateral) directions, plus connection slip moduli. The design capacity is the lesser of the timber-connection failure, from fastener embedment or withdrawal with k_mod and the connection partial factor, and the steel-plate failure, with the steel partial factor. Characteristic capacities are stated at a timber density of 350 kg/m³ and adjusted by the density factor k_dens, and lateral fastener capacities are taken for a thick steel plate. Splitting under the lifting force F1, and the design of bolts or metal anchors into concrete or steel, are verified to Eurocode 5.