This paper presents the results of long-term experiments performed on three timber-concrete composite (TCC) beams. An innovative fabricated steel plate connection system, which consists of screws and steel plates embedded in concrete slabs, was adopted in the TCC beam specimens. The adopted shear connection can provide dry-type connection for TCC beams. Steel plates were embedded in concrete slabs while the concrete slab was constructed in factories. The timber beam and concrete slab can be assembled together using screws at the construction site. In this experimental programme, the beam specimens were subjected to constant loading for 613 days in indoor uncontrolled environments. The influence of long-term loading levels and the number of shear connections on the long-term performance of TCC beams was investigated and discussed. The mid-span deflection, timber strain, and interface relative slip at the positions of both connections and beam-ends were recorded throughout the long-term tests. It was found the long-term deflection of the TCC beam increased by approximately 60% while the long-term loads were doubled. Under the influence of the variable temperature and humidity, the TCC specimens with 8 shear connections showed slighter fluctuations compared with the TCC beam with 6 shear connections. In the 613-day observation period, the maximum deflection increment recorded was 6.56 mm for the specimen with eight shear connections and 20% loading level. A rheological model consisting of two Kelvin bodies was employed to fit the curves of creep coefficients. The final deflections predicted of all specimens at the end of 50-year service life were 2.1~2.7 times the initial deflections caused by the applied loads. All beam specimens showed relative small increments in mid-span deflection, strain and relative slip over time without any degradations, demonstrating the excellent long-term performance of TCC beams using the innovative steel plate connection system, which is also easily fabricated.
This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the fire resistance of glued-in rod timber joints using epoxy resin, with and without modification. A heat-resistant modified resin was designed by adding inorganic additives into the epoxy resin, aiming to improve the heat resistance. Joints that were made using the modified epoxy resin at room temperature showed a bearing capacity comparable to those with commercial epoxy resin. Twenty-one joint specimens with the modified epoxy resin and six with a commercial epoxy resin were tested in a fire furnace to evaluate the fire resistance. The main failure mode was the pull-out of the rod, which is typical in fire tests of this type of joints. As to the effects of the test parameters, this study considered the effects of adhesive types, sectional sizes, stress levels, and fireproof coatings. The test results showed that the fire resistance period of a joint can be evidently improved by modifying the resin and using the fireproof coating, as the improvements reached 73% and 35%, respectively, compared with the joint specimens with commercial epoxy resin. It was also found that, for all specimens, the fire resistance period decreased with an increase in the stress level and increased with an increase in the sectional sizes.
In this study, to improve the structural applications of wood plastic composite (WPC) according to its relatively lower MOE, wood veneer and plastic sheets were laminated to form laminated WPC (LWPC). Bonding performance tests were conducted to determine the effects of coupling agent and processing on bonding performance between wood and plastic, followed by mechanical properties tests. The bondlines between wood and plastic were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed the following. 1) Delamination of untreated LWPCs was converted into wood fracture by adding a coupling agent. 2) The bending strength and tensile strength are both higher than those of the conventional WPCs, and the MOE of parallel multilayered LWPCs was significantly increased. The parallel multilayered LWPC with a density of 0.6 g/cm3 and wood-to-plastic ratio of 3:1 had an MOE of 11,490 MPa, and the bending and tensile strength were 40.36 MPa and 31.47 MPa, respectively. 3) SEM indicated that a strong interfacial connection in LWPC was obtained. This study demonstrated that the configuration of LWPC in combination with laminated veneer lumber and conventional WPC technologies is an effective method to improve mechanical properties. The LWPC can be used as a load-bearing material in timber structure.
This paper presents an experimental campaign conducted on the beam-to-column glulam joints combing glued-in rods and steel brackets (BCGS glulam joints) aiming to investigate the mechanical behaviour of these glulam joints under low cyclic loading. Three types of steel brackets were designed for connecting the beam and column combing with glued-in rods and to work as energy dissipaters. In each group of specimens (except for group MJ4), two specimens were tested under monotonic loading and the others were subjected to low cyclic loading. The test results were summarized comprehensively in terms of failure modes, joint stiffness, hysteresis loops, ductility and energy dissipation ability. Generally, the difference of load capacity between BCGS glulam joints and the beam-to-column glulam joints only with glued-in rods (BCG glulam joints) was not significant. The joint stiffness of BCG glulam joints was higher than that of the BCGS glulam joints, while the stiffness degradation of the later is slower than the former. The hysteresis loops of the BCGS glulam joints exhibited less pinching effect obviously compared with the BCG glulam joints, which indicated that the energy dissipation ability of the glulam joints with glued-in rods could be improved significantly by using the steel brackets as energy dissipaters. Moreover, it should be noted that the hysteresis loops of groups CJ1 showed slipping effect obviously during testing. This might due to the insufficient shear resistance of these two groups, so that further investigations on BCG glulam joints with shear-resisting components are urgently needed.
Compression tests were conducted on the glulam members under different eccentricities, including three cases of 0mm,50mm and 100mm respectively, to study the mechanical performance of the new assemblage joints in reticulated timber shells. The bending stiffness and bending capacity of joints were evaluated, at the same time, the influence of failure mode and the changes...
Glued-in rod is a type of effective connector for timber structures. In the last decades, considerable researches have been conducted on the bond behavior between timber and glued-in rod experimentally and theoretically. This paper presents the numerical simulation on the bond behavior of glulam joints with glued-in steel rod. Glulam is modelled as the orthotropic elasto-plastic material. Adhesive and steel rods are modelled as isotropic materials. Non-linear spring element was employed to simulate the local bond stress-slip relations at different locations along the bonded length. The numerical results indicate that non-linear spring element can be used to simulate the bond behavior of the glued-in steel rod glulam joints effectively. Moreover, The numerical results obtained by considering the local bond relations at different locations is in a better agreement with the experimental results than that obtained based on the bond stress-slip relation at loaded end.
This paper describes an experimental test program and theoretical analysis which examines the reinforcing in flexure of glued laminated timber (glulam) beams using fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) and steel materials. A series of four-point bending tests were conducted till failure on both unreinforced and reinforced Douglas fir glulam beams in a simply-supported scheme. The focus of this research was to evaluate the effects of reinforcing materials, reinforcement ratio and arrangement on the flexural behavior. Test results showed that the flexural capacity, flexural global stiffness and timber tensile strain at failure were all improved considerably for reinforced timber beams when compared to the unreinforced control beams, in which the average improvement reached 56.3%, 27.5% and 49.4%, respectively. On the bases of the experimental results, a theoretical model was proposed to predict the flexural capacity and flexural stiffness of the reinforced timber beams. Most of the differences between theoretical and experimental results for both flexural capacity and flexural stiffness were within 10.0%, which showed a high accuracy of the proposed model. Subsequently a parametric analysis, which includes the axial stiffness ratio of reinforcement to timber, the relative location of tensile reinforcement, and the strength ratio of reinforced timber between flexural tension and compression, was undertaken to investigate the effects of the influential factors for both flexural capacity and flexural stiffness.
This study aims to develop an improved understanding of the interfacial bond behavior of softwood glulam joints with bonded-in threaded steel rod. A total of 39 glulam joints with bonded-in single-threaded steel rods were tested to failure in the pull-pull configuration. The test results were presented in term of failure modes, load-relative movement response, pullout strength, and the corresponding slip. The distributions of bonded-in rod axial strain, interfacial bond stress, and relative movement were also analyzed to evaluate the local bond stress– relative movement response in the bond line. The results confirmed that the bond-relative movement response is dependent on the locations along the anchorage length, and the bond-relative movement responses located near both the loaded end and the anchorage end were observed to be stiffer than those at other locations. Finally, the predictions for the load capacity of the glulam joints with bonded-in threaded steel rod were carried out based on several existing empirical formulas.
This paper describes the test program of glued-in deformed bar timber joint conducted in pull-pull configuration, which aims to investigate the bond behavior of glued-in deformed bar systems in glulam. The varying parameter are bar slenderness ratio and glue-line thickness. In order to obtain the bond stress distribution along the anchorage length, special deformed bar with strain gauges attached internally were designed. Test results show that both the bar slenderness ratio and glue-line thickness have obvious influence on withdrawal strength and bond behavior of glued-in deformed bar joint. Failure modes of specimens are also analyzed in this paper. Ductile failure modes of glued-in rod timber joint could be realized with reasonable design.
