The safety and quality of traditional timber structures mostly depends on the conditions of
their connections. A testing campaign has investigated the behaviour of mortise and tenon timber joint. The
present paper addresses the quantification of the strength capacity of wood-wood mortise and tenon joint by
physical testing of full-scale specimens. In addition, the performance of different non-destructive techniques
(NDT) for assessing global strength is also evaluated. For this three non-destructive methods (ultrasonic testing,
Resistograph and Pilodyn) are considered and the possibility of their application is discussed based on the
application of simple linear regression models. New (NCW) and old (OCW) chestnut wood, obtained from
structural elements belonging to old buildings, is used. Finally, a nonlinear model has been formulated and the
predicted behaviour compared with the behaviour observed in the full-scale experiments, in terms of failure
mode and the ultimate load. The study has shown very good agreement with the experimental values.(undefined
