Mechanical behavior of tropical Glued Laminated Timber beams with fingers joints

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation on Glued Laminated Timber (GLT) beams made with two tropical woods species, for structural purposes. Two tropical wood species with different density and under-exploited were chosen. These are Dacryodes buettneri (Ozigo) and Pterocarpus osun (Padouk), Ozigo species was taken as a reference species. A Phenol Resorcinol Formaldehyde (PRF) adhesive resistant to harsh tropical environments was used for bonding. The static bending tests were conducted on beams compound of two and three lamellas with fingers joints. The aims of these tests were to determine the key mechanical parameters such as Module of Rupture (MOR) and the Module of Elasticity (MOE). Influence of the finger’s joints on the bending strength of the GLT beams is also investigated in this work. The results show that the position of lamella and finger joint has an impact on the loss of bending strength of the specimens tested, but they have no influence on their stiffness properties.