Tapered Beams Made of Cross Laminated Timber

Abstract

A method to determine strength reduction factors for tapered beamsmade of cross laminated timber (CLT) is presented. The method is based on EC5 equations for the calculation of strength reduction factors for tapered glulam beams. For CLT-beams, however, the required strength properties, i.e. the shear strength and the tensile or compressive strength perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, are determined considering the beam layup and the different failure modes both affecting the characteristics of CLT-beams. The analytical approach was substantiated by the good agreement that was found between the strength reduction factors obtained from the analytical approach and the results of tests performed with double tapered CLT-beams. © RILEM 2014.