COMPARISON OF TWO, GLUE-LAMINATED, CONSTRUCTION POST CONHGURATIONS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Allowable structural properties were determined for three composite, glue-laminated timber construction posts. The posts consisted of three or four glue-laminated plies of 50 mm (2 in.) nominal No.2 southern pine lumber fabricated by splicing preservative-treated and untreated sections. The splice consisted of lamina end finger joints oriented horizontally (or parallel) with the wide edge of the lamina. Full size specimens through the joint sections of three sizes of posts were tested to determine allowable structural material properties. The allowable bending stress, compressive stress parallel to the grain and apparent elastic modulus determined for the 150x150 mm (6x6 in.) nominal size category were 13.8, 14.8, and 16 900 MPa (2000, 2150, and 2.47x106 psi), respectively. The allowable bending and compressive stress and apparent elastic modulus for the 150x200 mm (6x8 in.) nominal size category were 14.1, 14.8, and 11 400 MPa (2050, 2150, and 1.66x106 psi), respectively. The allowable bending stress and the apparent elastic modulus were 15.5 and 13 900 MPa (2250 and 2.03x106 psi), respectively, for the 200x200 mm (8x8 in.) nominal size category. These results are compared to a product of similar construction. The allowable values determined may not be representative of the entire population of posts using similar materials and resin systems.