Glue laminated timber (glulam) is an engineered wood product composed of wood laminations bonded together with durable adhesives. Glulam is versatile ranging from simple, straight beams to complex, curved structural members and are used in a variety of applications including residential and commercial construction where they are often exposed due to the timeless aesthetic of wood. Glulam beams are also resource-efficient and offer designers highly predictable structural and fire performance when used in accordance with design specifications. However, factory-cut or field modifications to glulam beams, such as notching and drilling for routing piping and ductwork, has become common practice, which has the potential to impact structural integrity. There are prescriptive recommendations for these unplanned penetrations to ensure structural capacity remains intact but, in the event of a fire, the field modifications may enlarge and further reducethe beam’s cross-section. Here, we present an experimental method to evaluate the char rate and growth of various standard-fire exposed penetrations in glulam beams.
