Experimental investigation into the flexural behavior of hollow, full, and intermittently stiffened (bamboo-like) glulam beams from larch wood

Abstract

Bamboo-like glulam beams with hollow section units and intermittent internal reinforcement pieces were produced with small-diameter larch-wood pieces and one-component polyurethane. To better understand the design reliability, the failure mode, ultimate bearing capacity, and application potential were evaluated. Three types of beams (solid glulam, hollow glulam, and bamboo-like rectangular glulam beams) were compared and analyzed in this work. Stiffener pieces glued inside the bamboo-like beam were found to increase the bearing capacity and improve the failure mode relative to the hollow glulam beam. Comparison of the hollow section with a similar outside diameter showed that the ultimate bearing capacity increased by approximately 12.3% when the spacing between the stiffeners was 270 mm, and the ultimate bearing capacity increased by approximately 18.0% when the spacing between the stiffeners was 135 mm. Compared with the solid timber beams, wood consumption was reduced by 26.4% and 25.7% for the hollow and bamboo-like glulam beams, respectively. Also, a parameter analysis of the reasonable spacing and thickness of the stiffener was proposed by the finite element method.