Slender timber beams subjected to gravity loads may buckle in the out-of-plane direction. Normally, the same bracing system that is used to prevent lateral movements of the beams, caused by external transversal loading, also serve to increase the buckling strength of the beams. For the idealized case of a perfectly straight beam with full-bracing there is no force in the braces even at buckling because there is no displacement at the brace points. However, in real beams brace forces do develop during loading. This paper describes experimental and analytical studies performed on slender glulam beams subjected to gravity loads laterally stiffened by means of discrete bracing. In particular, the influence of relevant parameters such as i) brace stiffness, ii) brace position, iii) shape and magnitude of initial imperfections on the brace force were investigated.
