Purpose: In view of the defects of glued wood beams, a new composite member – reconstituted bamboo board reinforced glued wood beams is proposed to improve the bearing capacity of glued wood beams.Design/methodology/approach: The bending test studied the ordinary glulam beams and the reinforced glulam beams with different layer numbers and different layer thicknesses by comparing with six kinds of glulam beams strengthened with bamboo scrimber and one kind of ordinary glulam beams and used the method of third-point stepwise loading on the glulam beams strengthened with bamboo scrimber.Findings: The bamboo scrimber improved the bending behavior of the ordinary glulam beams. The 10 mm bamboo scrimber layer can meet the requirements of the maximum ultimate bending capacity and minimize the defects. So 10 mm bamboo scrimber layer was the optimal thickness. During the loading process, the strain change of the normal section of the reconstituted bamboo board reinforced glued wood beam basically conforms to the plane section assumption.Originality/value: The bending rigidities of the glulam beams strengthened with bamboo scrimber increased up to 28.25%, 8.53% and 76.67%, and the ultimate bending capacity increased from 83.44% to 99.34% with the increase of the bamboo scrimber plate layers (the replacement rate). The ultimate bending capacities and the bending rigidities of the glulam beams strengthened with bamboo scrimber increased to 52.32%∼60.18% and 90.07%∼99.34% with the changing of the bamboo scrimber thicknesses from 7.1 mm to 25 mm.

Glulam is a construction material widely used all over the world. Common glulam often exhibits brittle damage under bending loads due to natural defects in the wood, which results in low load-bearing and deformation capacities. To improve the flexural performance of glulam beams, a new type of glulam longitudinally strengthened with flax-fiber reinforced polymer (FFRP) composites is proposed. Eighteen full-scale timber beams with and without FFRP were tested, where the bonding length and the bonding layers of the FFRP are varied for FFRP strengthened beams. Results demonstrate that the flexural performance of strengthened beams improves significantly with increasing bonding length. The number of layers of FFRP had a minor effect on the flexural performance when the bonding length was 2700 mm. Moreover, the reliability of load capacity of beams can be improved by bonding FFRP with lengths over 1400 mm. A theoretical calculation predicts the ultimate flexural capacity of the strengthened beam, and exhibits good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, a cost analysis is made to evaluate the economics of various reinforcement methods, indicating that three-layer FFRP of 2700 mm strengthening length significantly increases the flexural performance at lower cost than other strengthened types.

The seismic performance of a light wood frame structure is determined by sheathing-to-framing joints. In order to encourage the use of more sustainable materials in structures, the spruce-pine-fir (SPF) panel and the bamboo scrimber (BS) panel were considered as sheathing materials. Monotonic and cyclic tests were conducted on the joints with different parameters to obtain their mechanical properties. Moreover, the design value of the bearing capacity of sheathing-to-framing joints was calculated and compared in accordance with Chinese code (GB50005) and European code (Eurocode 5). Based on the test results and the design codes, the reliability index of the design value of the bearing capacity of joints was calculated using the first-order reliability method (FORM). Results demonstrate that the joints have high bearing capacity and stiffness at initial loading stage when the loading direction is perpendicular to the framing grain. BS panels make better use of the bending strength of fasteners than SPF panels. The screwed joints have lower strength and stiffness degradation than nailed joints, but the nailed joints show better ductile and dissipation than screwed joints. In addition, the reliability indexes of design bearing capacity calculated by the Chinese code of joints under monotonic load are conservative, but those of joints under cyclic load are unconservative. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety and economy of design, a modification factor for the GB50005 design method of joints is proposed to meet the target reliability index.

This paper describes experimental and numerical investigations on a new type of strengthened light-wood-framed (LWF) shear wall (SW) that has parallel strand bamboo (PSB) panels at each end. The experiments are divided into two parts: (1) monotonic loading tests of panel-to-frame joints representing different positions along the wall; (2) monotonic loading tests of a group of traditional full-scale SWs and two groups of strengthened walls with nailed or screwed PSB panels. The failure modes, load–displacement curves, ultimate bearing capacity, elastic stiffness, and dissipation are analyzed, and the mechanical properties of panel-to-frame joints and the lateral performance of SWs are discussed. Moreover, nonlinear finite-element analysis shows that the numerical results are in good agreement with the test results. Our findings suggest that using LWF SWs strengthened with nailed PSB panels effectively improves the failure mode and the ductility, stiffness, and dissipation of traditional walls. Using sheathing screws on the PSB panels increases the lateral bearing capacity and the dissipation of the walls, but decreases their ductility ratio. Setting end PSB panels improves the overturning resistance capacity by restricting the uplift of studs. The LWF SWs strengthened with end PSB panels are found to meet the design requirements and reduce construction costs.

Purpose: The sheathing panels of traditional light wood frame shear walls mainly use oriented strand board (OSB) panels, and the damage of the traditional walls is mainly caused by the tear failure at the bottom corner of the OSB panel. In order to improve the lateral performance of the traditional light wood frame shear wall, a new type of end narrow panels reinforced light wood frame shear wall is proposed.Design/methodology/approach: The monotonic loading tests and finite element analysis of nine groups of walls, with different types of end narrow panel, types of fasteners used on the end narrow panels and the end narrow panels edge fastener spacing, are carried out. The effects of different characters on lateral performance of light wood frame shear walls are reported and discussed.Findings: The failure modes of the wall reinforced by parallel strand bamboo narrow panels with 150 mm edge nails spacing are similar to the traditional wall. Conversely, the failure modes of other groups of walls reinforced by end narrow panels are the tears of the bottom narrow panel or the bottom beam. The end narrow panel reinforced light wood frame shear wall can make full use of the material property of sheathing panels. Compared with the lateral performance of traditional walls, the new-type end narrow panels reinforced walls have better lateral performance.Originality/value: A new type of end narrow panels reinforced light wood frame shear wall is proposed, which can enhance the lateral performance of the traditional light wood frame shear wall. The new-type walls have advantages of convenient operation, manufacture cost saving and important value of engineering application.