Laminated timber frames with composite fibre-reinforced connections

摘要

Laminated timber frames behave well under dynamic earthquake loads, but the beam-to-column connections may be susceptible to a brittle-type failure, due to tensile stresses across wood fibres. Fibre-based materials such as non-woven glass-fibre fabric are effective in mitigating the tensile failures and increasing the ductility of the connections. While global performance of such connections and frames shows satisfactory results, some fundamental questions associated with the performance of the composite-wood system and interface in aggressive environments, under elevated temperatures and long-term loading, must be answered before the composite systems can be safely used in engineering practice.