Tensile strength of spruce glulam

Matthias Frese (1) , Yue Chen (2) , Hans Joachim Blass (1)

1 Lehrstuhl für Ingenieurholzbau und Baukonstruktionen
2 Department of Wood Science

Comparative tests on spruce glulam members subject to tension and bending, respectively, were numerically simulated to determine the tensile-to-bending-strength ratio. Nine different grading methods were applied to cover a wide strength range. They are based on visual inspection and mechanical determination of density and MOE. The simulated tensile and bending strength values result in an almost constant tensile-to-bending-strength ratio of 0.88. The ratio is valid for fifth percentile values and for standardized tests with prescribed member sizes. It is independent of the grading method used. In addition the size effect in glulam tension members was numerically studied. The results show a strong dependence of the glulam tensile strength upon the length subject to tension in case of short members. The dependence slowly wears off in case of long members. The tensile strength for members 150 mm in length is 140 percent of the reference value. The limit strength for a quasi-infinite length is about 80 percent.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Matthias Frese, Yue Chen, Hans Joachim Blass. Tensile strength of spruce glulam. European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, 2010, 68 (3), pp.257-265. ⟨10.1007/s00107-010-0449-3⟩. ⟨hal-00599887⟩