Low-cycle fatigue life and duration-of-load effect for hybrid CLT fabricated from lumber and OSB

Abstract

Given the nature of cross-laminated timber (CLT), with an orthogonal arrangement and rolling shear characteristics of transverse layers, it has a more complex duration-of-load (DOL) effect than other engineered wood products, such as glued-laminated timber. Developing hybrid CLT (HCLT) with structural composite lumber, which can improve the mechanical properties and material sources of CLT, is gaining increasing interest. Construction oriented strand board (COSB) and spruce-pine-fir (SPF) dimension lumber were used to fabricate HCLT specimens for this study. The regular SPF CLT and HCLT specimens having different lay-ups and numbers of layers were subjected to low-cycle fatigue bending and shear loading tests. The Foschi and Yao damage accumulation model was calibrated using the test results. The DOL factors for the CLT and HCLT specimens were calculated using the stress ratio evaluation method. Results showed that the primary failure modes for the fatigue test specimens were the same as those observed in previous short-term ramp loading tests, and a good fit was observed between the model's predictions and the test data. The DOL factor corresponding to a load duration of 50 years, for a three-layer shear CLT specimen, was determined to be 0.53, which was lower than that recommended in CSA O86-19. The fatigue life and long-term performance of CLT were improved by using COSB panels as CLT layers. The HCLT specimens that used COSB only as the transverse layer showed advantages in fatigue life, long-term performance, and practical applications.