Investigation of impact behavior of glulam beam strengthened with CFRP

Abstract

This study’s objective is to examine the general behavior of glulam timber beams strengthened with CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers) strips and ascertain the impacts of the applied strengthening technique on the performance of timber beams under the influence of rapid dynamic impact loading. In the study, the innovative strengthening method developed with CFRP strips was placed on the lower tensile surface of glulam timber beams and positioned as more than one layer between laminated beam parts. In addition, placing CFRP fan-type anchors on the endpoints of the strips to delay the debonding of CFRP strips from the surface is an innovative application examined in this study that contributes to the literature. The glulam timber beams that strengthened with the developed method and non-strengthened reference test specimens were tested with the free-weight drop test setup. The acceleration, displacement, strain at the tensile surface, and the variations of the applied impact loading by the time were measured and interpreted. In this way, the performance level of the strengthening technique under the effect of the impact loading was investigated. The glulam timber beams strengthened with CFRP strips are modeled using ABAQUS finite element software to compare the numerical analysis with the experimental results and determine the extent to which the numerical analysis might produce realistic results.