Numerical and experimental behavior of fiber reinforced polymer type and layer number effect on the flexural properties of heat-treated black pine wood

Abstract

Heat treatment is one of the environmentally friendly methods applied to improve the structural properties of wooden materials. While heat treatment improves some properties of wood material, it also negatively affects its mechanical properties depending on the heat treatment conditions applied. The decrease in mechanical properties due to heat treatment limits the use of wood material in various applications requiring mechanical strength. For this purpose, various fiber-reinforced polymers have been used in recent years. In this study, it was aimed to experimentally and numerically examine the flexural properties of unheat-treated and heat-treated black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold.) wood reinforced 1, 2 and 3 times with carbon, glass and aramid. Following the experimental flexural tests, the samples were modeled and analyzed in the finite element software program. The average flexural strength of the heat-treated sample is 11.72% lower, and the elasticity modulus is 1.23% lower than the unheat-treated sample.It has been determined that carbon-based polymer fabrics, among fiber-reinforced polymer fabrics, have the best reinforcement effect. The flexural strength of the UHT-C-3 sample is 6.1% and the elasticity modulus is 3.52% higher than the UHT-C-1 coded sample. Compared to the sample without reinforcement, flexural strength increased by 30% and elasticity modulus increased by 7%. It is seen that as the number of fiber reinforced polymer layers increases, the flexural properties also increase. When the experimental and numerical analysis results were examined, the flexural strength and modulus of elasticity values gave similar results at the R2: 0.88–0.99 level. In addition to technologies using kinds of reinforcement evaluated in conservation applications, it may be utilized for numerical analysis in the field of repairing or reinforcing different grades, patterns, and types of reinforcement in already-existing wooden structures.