Rational Design of Radial Reinforcement in Pitch-Cambered Glulam Beams

A rational procedure for the design of radial reinforcement for pitch-cambered glulam beams is developed. This design procedure is based on the results of an extensive theoretical investigation of the influence of the radial reinforcement on the stress distributions in pitch-cambered beams. The experimental results reported in a past study of repaired beams were helpful in providing limited verification of the results obtained in this theoretical investigation. An orthotropic finite element method was utilized to conduct the stress analysis of beams representing a wide range of key geometric parameters and reinforcement layouts. The radial reinforcement was found to neither cause any change in the flexural stiffness of these members nor influence the tangential stress distributions in these beams. A significant reduction in the wood fiber radial tension stresses was caused by the reinforcement size and spacing and several key beam geometric parameters. A design chart was developed to determine the reinforcement size and spacing required to achieve a desired radial stress reduction in these beams. A procedure for establishing the region of the member requiring the radial reinforcement was formulated.

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