ABSTRACT
In the production of glue-laminated timber (GLT), boards derived from planted forest wood with easy workability are glued on top of one another. The main objective of the present work was to evaluate the performance of paricá timber GLT beams (5 × 10 cm) on GLT. Three procedures were performed: (1) GLT beams (5 × 10 cm) were produced using natural lamellae without chemical preservatives; (2) the individual lamellae (2.5 × 5 cm) were chemically treated, and then glued together; and (3) the beams formed from the glued natural lamellae (5 × 10 cm) were treated chemically. The positions of lamellae on the beams were determined by their modulus of elasticity values (MOE), which were estimated by a non-destructive bending test with a three-point load. The analytical bends, determined by the homogenized section method, and the experimental bends, measured by the four-point bending test, were compared. The differences between the bends were statistically evaluated, and it was found that the experimental bend (21.65 mm) was less than the analytical bend (34.02 mm). There was no significant loss of shear strength or MOE. The axial strength of the chemically untreated beams (49.18 MPa) was significantly higher than that of the untreated beams fabricated from natural lamellae (40.48 MPa). The results indicate that the gluing of treated lamellae does not affect beam performance.
KEYWORDS
timber; beams; structure
