Shear strength of in-plane loaded cross laminated timber beam elements - Experimental and theoretical investigation

Abstract

Cross laminated timber (CLT), as a versatile engineered timber product, has in recent years become well-known and of global interests. The orthogonal laminar structure allows for application as beams, walls or panels for both out-of-plane and in-plane loading conditions. The work presented here concerns experimental investigations of in-plane loaded CLT beams, as very relevant from a practical engineering point of view due to reinforcing effect of transversal layers with respect to stress perpendicular to the beam axis. Experimental results are used for comparison and validation of design proposals from the literature, with the main focus on the shear failure mode III in crossing areas between orthogonally bonded longitudinal and transversal lamination. By using the assumed shear strength values from the literature, analytically predicted shear carrying capacities show good agreement with the experimentally obtained. Although further experimental validation is needed, obtained results indicate that suggested design proposals should be considered in ongoing revision work of Eurocode 5.