Numerical Investigation on Flexural Performance of Dowel Laminated Timber with Laminas Made of Laminated Veneer Lumber

Abstract

Horizontal dowel laminated timber (H-DLT) is a doweled engineered wood product with laminas made of solid timber. H-DLT has excellent bending resistance. However, the height of cross-section of H-DLT as a beam is limited by the width of solid wood laminas. Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product formed by hot-pressed gluing thin veneers, which is flexible in cross-section size compared to solid timber. Horizontal dowel laminated veneer lumber (H-DLVL) was developed by utilizing the H-DLT production methods and LVL material characteristics. H-DLVL has flexible size and good mechanical properties, and it can be made into beams and panels with large cross-sections. In this paper, the flexural performance of H-DLVL beams was investigated. A predictive finite element model of H-DLVL beams was created by the extended finite element method (XFEM) with cohesive zone model (CZM). The numerical models using solid-beam elements without fictitious cracks were verified and calibrated by experimental results. The influence of five variables, including lamina width, thickness, and quantity, dowel spacing along the grain, and dowel row (edge distance), on the flexural performance of H-DLVL beams was analyzed, and the flexural strength of H-DLVL beams was parameterized. The results showed that the failure mode of H-DLVL beams could be well predicted by XFEM without considering fictitious cracks combined with CZM, and the error range of simulated flexural strength of H-DLVL beams was within ±10%. The flexural strength of H-DLVL beams was directly affected by lamina thickness and dowel spacing along the grain. The flexural strength of H-DLVL beams increased with the increase of those two variables. Lamina width and dowel row (edge distance) affected the flexural strength of H-DLVL beams indirectly by influencing the failure mode of H-DLVL beams. Based on this research, the recommended dowel spacing along the grain of H-DLVL beams was 6.25 to 12.5 times the wood dowel diameter, and the recommended edge distance of H-DLVL beams was 5 to 7 times.