Timber has relatively low tensile strength perpendicular to grain. Therefore, when a force in a connection acts at an angle to the grain, the possibility of splitting caused by the tension force component perpendicular to the grain should be taken in to account.

If a number of fasteners are involved in the connection inducing the tensile force perpendicular to grain, a failure boundary in tension is defined with the furthest fastener away from the edge of the timber member in question. This is the loaded edge distance to the centre of the most distant fastener.

This example outlines the calculation method to check splitting due to tension perpendicular to grain.