Influence of Flange Quality on the Load-Carrying Capacity of Composite Webbed I-Beams in Flexure

Due to the lack of information on the effect of using low quality lumber of small cross section in composite beams, this study was undertaken to determine the load-carrying capacity of double-web I-beams with flanges consisting of three lumber laminations of varying quality. Waferboard strips 16 feet long were used as webs. Maximum load, in flexure, for 100 beams was found to be correlated linearly to the average stiffness of the tension flange, laminations. With the quality of the compression flange slightly lower than that of the tension flange the load-carrying, capacity was not appreciably reduced. The ratio of the tension flange stiffness to compression flange stiffness resulting in optimum beam strength was 1.25. None of the phenol-resorcinol gluebonds between flanges and webs failed and no shear or buckling failures occurred in the webs. The results demonstrate the practical advantages of waferboard as web material in composite beams.

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