Four Species Glulam

Learning Objectives

The objective of this lesson is to learn about longitudinal beam stress (BENDING AND SHEAR) and how that stress influences the design of Glulam beams.

Lecture Slides

SELF-REFLECTION SHEET FOR GLULAM BEAMS

TEST RESULTS from Monday 2/12:

 

Readings/Videos

I highly recommend that you also search on your own for other sources to learn more about the topic of bending stress distribution, lumber quality, and Glulam

  • Glulam – class notes
  • Internal bending moment of a beam: https://goo.gl/B5LCBB
  • Lumber quality (start at section entitled “Softwood Lumber”): https://goo.gl/UWFDvo
  • Standard Glulam beam layups: https://goo.gl/R4XN7f
  • Chapter 6. Breyer, Donald E., Fridley, Kenneth J., Pollock, Jr., David G, and Cobeen, Kelly, Design of Wood Structure-ASD/LRFD, McGraw-Hill, 7th Edition, 2014

Answer these questions (ie. hypothesize) before coming to class

  1. Which is the strongest wood species: Ash, Douglas-Fir, Hemlock, or Spruce?
  2. Where should the strongest board be placed in a beam – top, middle, or bottom?

Activity

(Materials needed: 9 ea. of 1/2in x 2in x 24in Where sh; adhesive; gloves; plastic sheets)

5 min: (Lecture) Important wood characteristics (defects, variability)

20min: Watch beam tests (one board/species). Explain test… three point bending to measure strength. Record peak load on board for each species and discuss.

30min: (Exercise) Four species glulam fabrication

Each team picks the strongest looking board from a bin of one species, then moves to the next bin to pick the strongest looking board of the next species and so on.

Each team designs and glues together a four-layer glulam for testing on Wednesday.

The team with the strongest glulam wins a prize.