Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

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Construction and Building Materials

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Failure modes and reinforcement techniques for timber beams – State

of the art
Steffen Franke a,⇑, Bettina Franke a, Annette M. Harte b
a
Bern University of Applied Sciences, Solothurnstrasse 102, CH-2504 Biel, Switzerland
b
College of Engineering and Informatics, National University of Ireland, University Rd., Galway, Ireland

h i g h l i g h t s

 Review of typical materials, cross sections and forms of timber beams.

 Description of general failure modes and their possible causes.
 State of the art of established retrofitting and reinforcement techniques.
 Discussion of case studies for reinforcement techniques.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Highly loaded and large span timber beams are often used for halls, public buildings or bridges.
Received 28 January 2015 Reinforcement of beams may be required to extend the life of the structure, due to deterioration or dam-
Received in revised form 2 June 2015 age to the material/product or change of use. The paper summarises methods to repair or enhance the
Accepted 8 June 2015
structural performance of timber beams. The main materials/products cross sections and geometries
Available online 2 July 2015
used for timber beam are presented. Furthermore, their general failure modes are described and typical
retrofitting and reinforcement techniques are given. The techniques include wood to wood replacements,
Keywords:
use of mechanical fasteners and additional strengthening materials/products.
Timber
Large span beams
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Failure modes
Reinforcement
Retrofitting

1. Typology of timber beams 2. Failure modes

Timber beams can mainly be classified according to the span, 2.1. General
the geometry and the material/product used, as summarized in
Table 1. The focus within this article is on high-performance, Structures have to adopt, and transfer external loads to the
long-span structures. Table 2 gives an overview of typical timber ground and also to deal with the corresponding internal loads (nor-
beams in relation to the sizes of the cross section and the span mal force, shear force and moment). This leads to stresses and
ratio. In Europe, glulam members or block glued glulam members deformations in the structure which must not exceed design
are the main construction elements used for large open span strength and deformation limits. In designing new structures, a full
spaces, stadium roofs or bridges in which the primary structure cross section with minor damage and correct material grades are
is timber. The typical layered cross section of glulam reaches from assumed. However, in existing timber structures the cross section
100 to 250 mm in width and up to 2500 mm in depth but also in and/or the properties of the material/product of the members can
larger dimensions as block glued glulam. Box or composite beams be reduced due to mechanical and biological damage. Both types of
are alternatives providing a lower self-weight. damage influence the load carrying capacity and serviceability of
single members or the complete construction. Within the assess-
ment of timber structures, damage or failure has to be detected
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 32 344 0305. and assessed for the resistance and serviceability of the timber
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Franke), [email protected] structure. The net cross sections observed at failures or damages
(B. Franke), [email protected] (A.M. Harte). must be compared to the designed cross sections.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.06.021
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13 3

Table 1 Table 3
Classification of timber beams. Most frequent characteristics of the timber structures assessed, from [1,2].

Category Representatives, options Characteristic Main result Corresponding no.

of assessments
Material/ Solid wood; glulam, block glued glulam; laminated veneer
product lumber; plywood; (OSB, LSL); cross laminated timber Material/Product Glulam 594 80%
Cross Solid cross section; box-beam; I-beam; T-beam; C-beam Quality (or equivalent) GL28h 68 72%
section Load type Bending 470 80%
Geometry Straight beam; curved beam; tapered beam; truss

The failure analysis on timber structures in Germany carried out

by Blass & Frese [1,2] gives a good overview of the distribution of Biological reasons
36%
main types of failure classified according to the construction, use
Structural-
and region. Most assessment reports state that the timber struc- Physical reasons
tures have been built using glulam beams of quality GL28h (see 38%
Table 3). Their shape, however, is more varied with the most com-
mon being, by order: straight (154/426), tapered straight Chemical
(124/426), pitched cambered (90/426) and curved (47/426). 80% reasons
5%
of the failure cases could be detected in bending members, fol- Mechanical
lowed by 8% in compression members. Furthermore in 75% of the Other reasons reasons
12% 9%
failure cases cracks could be detected. Typical reasons and types
of failure are summarized in Figs. 1 and 2. For high performing
Fig. 1. Reasons for damages, [1,2].
and long span timber members the typical failure modes are
described in detail in the following sections.

2.2. Cracks
Crack in the
grain direction
The most common type of failure, Fig. 2, was observed as the 75%
appearance of cracks in grain direction. The variation of the sur-
rounding climate at a timber beam changes the moisture content
and lead to shrinkage or swelling of the cross section. Non uniform Other
distributions of the moisture content over the cross section and/or failure
11%
restraint deformations lead to internal stresses and, if the material Tension
Shear failure
strength is exceeded, to cracks in the cross section which can sig- failure 6%
nificantly reduce the capacity, Figs. 3 and 4. For the determination 8%
of the influence of cracks in timber beams on the residual load car-
rying capacity or stiffness no comprehensive methods are known. Fig. 2. Types of failure, [1,2].

Methods and guidelines for this evaluation are currently under

development at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. the glueline quality for glued members. Regarding the distribution
The amount and distribution of cracks depends on several fac- of cracks in the timber beams, a summary of their characteristics
tors, such as timber, defects, loading situation, beam shape and can be found in Table 4.

Table 2
Overview of timber beam forms.

Timber beam form Cross section Span, depth ratio

Straight beams 10 m 6 l 6 40 m
depth h h  l/17
span l

Tapered beams 12 m 6 l 6 25 m
h  l/15
depth h

span l

Curved beams 15 m 6 l 6 35 m
h  l/17
depth h
span l

Trusses 20 m 6 l 6 85 m
h  l/10
depth h

span l
4 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

Table 4
Characteristics of cracks and their distributions, from [1,2].

Crack cause Location; Length; Cases

quantity depth (%)
ratio*
Stress concentration (restrained At the 1–10 m; 35
shrinkage, notches, transverse singularity; mostly 1.0
forces ...) single
Normal climate changes Randomly; 0.1–1 m; 33
numerous 0.1 to 0.4
Element quality (glue line or finger At the defect; depending on 17
joints) its extent
Overloading (shear or bending Various; 1 m; 15
Fig. 3. Glulam cross sections; (a) sketch of undamaged cross section with 100%
stresses) single to mostly 1.0
capacity, (b) sketch of cross section with some possible damage and unknown
numerous
capacity, (c) real example of cross section with internal cracks.
*
Ratio of depth of crack to width of beam.

Note: Failure under tension stress perpendicular to the grain in

glulam members has to be distinguished from delamination failure
within the glue lines as shown in Fig. 5. Special techniques can be
used for the classification of delaminations as shown in [3].

2.3. Bending failure

Bending results in longitudinal tension and compression stres-

ses distributed over the depth of the cross section. The tension
stress leads to a brittle failure due to the rupture of the wood
fibres, as shown in Fig. 6. Longitudinal compression stress results
in elastic and plastic deformations which can be described as duc-
tile and leads to the so-called kink bands.
Due to natural defects, such as knots, the tension strength can
be reduced compared to compression strength. Therefore, bending
failure is mainly described by brittle failure of timber beams within
the tension zone, as shown in Fig. 7. Bending failure is classified as
Fig. 5. Delamination at a glulam member.
critical and can lead to a single failure of the structural element or
the complete construction.

2.4. Compression failure

Failure under longitudinal compression stress occurs mainly in

timber trusses, beams or columns. Failure under compression
stress perpendicular to the grain can also be described as a ductile
failure with plastic deformations and occurs mainly at supports or
at loading points where high loads have to be transferred, as shown
in Figs. 8 and 9. In both cases, these plastic deformations can fur-
ther lead to eccentricities and load redistributions within the com-
plete structure and therefore overstress parts of the structure. The
overall stability can also be influenced.

Fig. 6. Principal sketch for bending failure.

2.5. Tension failure

Tension stress has to be considered parallel to the grain and

perpendicular to the grain directions. When the tensile capacity
of the timber is exceeded, brittle failure occurs. Examples of tensile
failure parallel to the grain and perpendicular to the grain are
shown in Figs. 10–12. However, due to the low tension strength
perpendicular to the grain of wood, which is almost zero due to
natural defects, failure under tension stress perpendicular to the
grain occurs more often. Therefore, wood products are mostly opti-
mised to increase the tension strength perpendicular to the grain.
However tension stresses perpendicular to grain has carefully to be
considered in the design. Tension stress perpendicular to the grain
Fig. 4. Cracks in grain direction at a glulam member. occurs in curved, tapered and end-notched glulam members as
 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13 5

3. Reinforcement techniques

3.1. General

The following sections illustrate possible reinforcement tech-

niques for timber beams. Detailed descriptions of the different
techniques and their design can be found in [9–11].
Reinforcement measures may be required in order to restore the
structural capacity of damaged beams or to increase the capacity
of intact beams. In the case of damage or decay, the timber beam
or parts of the beams have to be replaced as described in
Section 3.3. Reinforcement measures to improve the performance
of timber beams in bending, shear, and in tension and compression
perpendicular to the grain are described.

Fig. 7. Tension failure under bending. 3.2. Repair of shrinkage cracks or delaminations

Repairs of shrinkage cracks or partial delamination of glue lines

well as in members with holes, additional connected structural ele- in glued laminated timber may be carried out. In many instances,
ments or equipment, and at connections loaded perpendicular to repair of cracks is carried out in conjunction with other reinforce-
the grain. ment interventions. For glued laminated timber, it is generally con-
sidered necessary to repair shrinkage cracks in regions of high
2.6. Shear failure shear stresses and high tensile stresses perpendicular to the grain.
The first purpose of the repair is to restore the load carrying capac-
In most cases, bending stress and deflection limits govern the ity of the glulam member. The visible cracks or delamination in
design of the members. But for short beams, tapered beams or spe- glulam members have always to be assessed by an expert before
cial loading situations the shear stress can be more important. In planning the repair process regarding the load carrying capacity
general for beams, the shear stress reaches the maximum value of the whole structure, [12].
close to the supports (Fig. 13). Additionally, end-notched beams For crack openings smaller than 10 mm wide and with low to
and beams with holes can lead to shear stress concentrations, medium fibrosity/splintering the repair can be done by injection
[5,6]. Failure due to shear stress is characterised by a sliding of of adhesives, [13]. A number of such products with technical
the fibres and thus cracking parallel to the grain and is considered approvals for these applications are available. The current regula-
as a brittle failure. The cracks are mainly closed and therefore hard tions according to the requirements in the standards and possible
to detect if they are not at the end of the beam, as shown in Fig. 14. technologies are summarized in [13] for the European market. The
methodology of repairing cracks and delamination is shown as
well, [13].
2.7. Insects and fungi To ensure adequate load carrying capacity, the preparation of
the bonding surfaces is important to ensure the required quality
Decay due to fungi is possible for timber beams with a moisture of the applied technology and to avoid defects. In general, the
content close to/or over the fibre saturation point, see Fig. 15. The repair procedure involves cutting out the cracks using a saw, router
fibre saturation point varies from wood to wood species and shows or grinder to make a clean slot. Before filling with a suitable adhe-
a range from 26–32 M% (in mass percentage). The different fungi sive, the slot has to be cleaned, optionally brushed with a primer
and their typical appearance and hazard are summarized in [7]. and filling- and ventilation holes have to be prepared. Optional
Generally, decay due to insects can occur within a range of supporting systems for the member may have to be used. Fig. 16
wood moisture content above 6 M% , but can be neglected in con- shows the results of applying different technologies for repairing
struction of service class 1 or 2, where technical dried wood mem- cracks or delamination depending on corresponding adhesives.
bers like solid wood, glulam or wood products are used, [8]. The
classification and identification of insects is described in detail in
[7].

Fig. 8. Principal sketch for compression failure at support. Fig. 9. Compression failure at loading point.
6 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

appearance of the repaired member and to provide fire protection.

When the adhesive has fully cured, the supporting props are
removed.
The prosthesis should be of the same species as the timber to be
repaired, or be compatible in terms of its mechanical properties by
using, for instance, engineered wood products. The moisture con-
tent of the prosthesis should be the same as that of the beam being
repaired [16]. The adhesive used is usually a thixotropic epoxy
resin and the type used should specially formulated to bond with
the timber and the reinforcement. The design of the repair is based
on the requirement that the reinforcement should provide the
same section load bearing capacity as the section with sound
Fig. 10. Principal sketch for tension failure perpendicular to the grain at a notch.
timber.

3.3. Replacement of damaged or decayed parts 3.4. Flexural reinforcement

Timber that has decayed due to fungal or insect attack is porous, In order to increase the flexural strength and stiffness of beams,
fragile and has very poor strength properties [14]. This decay often reinforcing elements are added that act compositely with the exist-
occurs in localised parts of the beam, such as at the ends where the ing member. A large variety of reinforcement configurations are
timber is in direct contact with a masonry supporting wall as seen available. The reinforcing elements can be in the form of rods, plates
in Fig. 17. In these cases, the condition of the rest of the beam is or other structural shapes which are connected to the beam using
generally good. Other types of accidental damage, such as fire dam- mechanical fixings or structural adhesives. These reinforcing ele-
age, may cause a reduction in the member cross-section resulting ments can be placed inside or outside of the member and may be
inadequate strength and stiffness. Decayed and damaged materi- slack or prestressed. The reinforcement material can be a metal,
als/products should be removed and the member upgraded to fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) or engineered wood product.
restore the load-bearing capacity of the member. Figs. 21 and 22 show some possible configurations for external
Repair methods include replacing the damaged section with a and internal reinforcement. Apart from the structural requirements,
timber or engineered wood prosthesis connected to the original the configuration selected for a particular application may depend
beam by means of a scarf joint with wooden pegs and/or adhesive on other factors: the presence of decorative ceilings or painting on
(Fig. 18), by means of bonded-in rods or plates (Fig. 19), [16]. beams may require that access for reinforcement is restricted to
The most common retrofit method employed involves replacing the top or sides of the beam; fire protection requirements may
the damaged timber with a timber prosthesis which is bonded to exclude the use of externally bonded plates on exposed surfaces.
the sound timber in the original beam using steel or fibre rein- As timber beams generally fail in tension in a brittle fashion,
forced polymer (FRP) rods or plates. Using this approach, the scale positioning of the reinforcement on the tensile face of the beams
of the intervention is limited and the load bearing function is pre- is very effective for increasing bending strength. With increasing
served. The implementation of this type of repair involves a num- percentage of tensile reinforcement, the neutral axis of the beam
ber of different steps [17]. Initially, the beams are propped. The moves towards the bottom of the beam. As a result the compres-
damaged part of the beam is then removed by cutting either verti- sive strain in the timber increases relative to the tensile strain
cally or at an angle of 45° to the vertical, as seen in Fig. 19. Holes or and compressive yielding may occur before the timber eventually
grooves to take the connecting rods/plates are drilled in the beam fails in tension. The load–deflection response for a timber beam
and the prosthesis and are partially filled with adhesive. The rein- reinforced with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates,
forcing elements are inserted into the beam and prosthesis and the which were inserted from the top, is shown in Fig. 23, [19]. The
adhesive is topped up in holes/grooves if necessary. Additional unreinforced beam A has a brittle response. For the reinforced
props are introduced to support the prosthesis. When grooves beams, two of the beams display significant ductility in their
are used, a timber strip is normally inserted to improve the response before failure.

Fig. 12. Tension failure parallel to the grain of experimental tension tests: (a) short-
Fig. 11. Tension failure perpendicular to the grain at a notch. fibred, (b) long-fibred, [4].
 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13 7

grooves cut into the beams. CFRP materials have high strength
and stiffness properties and, depending on the properties of the
unreinforced beam and the percentage of reinforcement used,
strength and stiffness increases of over 100% can be achieved. For
lower grade timber, less expensive GFRP materials are generally
sufficient to provide the required strengthening but the stiffness
increase can be limited. Steel fibre reinforced polymer bars have
been found to provide a significant increase in capacity and ductil-
ity but insignificant improvement in stiffness [32]. The use of FRP
materials has a number of advantages over steel due to their light
weight, their corrosion resistance, and their ease of handling on
site. It should be noted that the routing of grooves to house rein-
forcement may cause a weakening of the beam as a discontinuity
is introduced in the wood fibres in the vicinity of the grooves.
Fig. 13. Principal sketch for shear failure.
In the design of flexural reinforcement, full composite action
between the reinforcement and the timber substrate is assumed.
Kliger et al. [20] investigated the influence of the distribution of The increase in flexural stiffness and ultimate moment capacity
the reinforcement between the tensile and compressive faces of of the reinforced member can then be determined using a classical
the beam on the bending strength and stiffness. They concluded strength of materials approach as described in [11].
that for maximum strength, 75% of the reinforcement should be Prestressed steel or FRP plates bonded on the tension face with
on the bottom face and 25% on the top. To achieve maximum duc- epoxy resin [33–38] can provide further increases in strength. A
tility, all of the reinforcement should be placed on the bottom. The pre-camber is introduced in the beam due to the eccentric pre-
maximum stiffness enhancement was achieved when the rein- stress, which can be offset against the deflection to the external
forcement was equally distributed between the top and bottom loads. However, this technique is currently not used in practise
faces. However, for low percentages of reinforcement the stiffness due to the difficulty in installation and insufficient knowledge of
gain by distributing the reinforcement between the two faces may the long-term performance of the prestressed members.
not justify the additional work involved. As the flexural capacity of the beam is enhanced, the shear
Steel and other metals have been used for reinforcing timber for capacity may be exceeded. In these cases, a combination of both
many years. Mark [21] bonded aluminium sheets to the top and flexural and shear strengthening may be required.
bottom faces of timber beams and reported an increase in the flex-
ural strength and stiffness. Dziuba [22] tested timber beams rein- 3.5. Reinforcement in tension perpendicular to the grain
forced with steel rods on the tension face and noted that
compressive yielding occurred prior to failure in tension. DeLuca Failure in tension perpendicular to the grain in timber beams
and Murano [23] reinforced spruce beams with 0.82% steel bars can arise in notched beams, around holes and in curved, tapered
and recorded mean increases of 48% in peak load, and 26% in stiff- or pitched cambered beams. Reinforcement of beams in these sit-
ness. Nielsen and Ellegaard [24] investigated the use of punched uations can be achieved using internal or external reinforcement.
metal plate connectors as flexural reinforcement for timber but Types of internal reinforcement include self-tapping screws,
with limited success. bonded-in or drilled-in threaded steel rods or bonded-in FRP rods
Fibre reinforced polymer in the form of pultruded rods or plates or tubes. External reinforcement is achieved by mechanically fixing
have been the subject of a considerable amount of research for the and/or gluing on sheets of wood-based panels, such as plywood, or
reinforcement of timber and have been used in practise to rein- FRP sheets or nail plates.
force solid timber and glulam structures. Several fibre types are For the case of notched end beams, the stress concentration at
available including carbon (CFRP), aramid (AFRP), glass (GFRP), the corner of the notch leads to crack initiation and rapid crack
basalt (BFRP) and steel (SFRP). CFRP [19], [20], [25–27] and GFRP propagation results in a sudden brittle failure of the beam as
[28–31] have been widely used as externally bonded plates or shown in Fig. 12. The high tensile stresses perpendicular to the
internally as near surface mounted reinforcement bonded into grain are accompanied by high shear stresses. Different reinforce-
ment methods are illustrated in Fig. 24. The reinforcement can
be deployed perpendicular to or at 45° to the beam axis. Due to
the presence of high shear stresses, the performance of notched
beams reinforced at 45° is superior. This has been validated by a
number of experimental investigations [39–42]. Reinforced

Fig. 14. Shear failure at holes. Fig. 15. Risk of insect and fungal decay in relation of the moisture content.
8 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

Fig. 16. Result of different repair methods (pouring and injection) for different adhesives, GSA Resin n’H Lungern (left), Purbond RE 3040, RE 3064 (middle), Jowat 692.30
(right), [13].

Irrespective of the type of reinforcement used, the usual design

approach is to assume that the tensile forces perpendicular to the
grain are carried entirely by the reinforcement. For beams with a
rectangular notch at the support, the tensile force for which the
reinforcement is designed is given by [39,43]

F t;90;d ¼ 1:3 V d ½3ð1  aÞ2  2ð1  aÞ3  ð1Þ

where Vd is the design shear force and a is the ratio of the reduced
beam height at the notch to the total beam height.
For the case of beams with a round or rectangular hole,
" 2
#
V d  hd h Md
F t;90;d ¼ 3  d2 þ 0:008  ð2Þ
4h h hr

Fig. 17. Beam end decay [15]. where Vd and Md are the design values of the shear force and bend-
ing moment at the section, respectively, h is the beam height, hd is
the hole height and hr is the distance from the edge of the hole to
notches have enhanced load-bearing capacity but also display less
the top or bottom of the beam [39,43]. Typical reinforcing configu-
brittle failure modes than is the case for unreinforced notches.
rations for beams with holes are shown in Fig. 25.
For screws or glued-in rods, the requirements for minimum
For curved, pitched tapered or tapered beams, the tensile stress
edge distances and spacing must be satisfied while keeping the
perpendicular to the grain occurs in the apex region, which is high-
reinforcement as close as possible to the notch corner [9,10].
lighted in grey in Fig. 25, [44–46]. Reinforcement of this region can
Externally bonded sheets of FRP or plywood are placed on both
be achieved through the use of screws, glued-in rods or side plates,
sides of the beam and extend over the full height. Screws are nor-
as shown in Fig. 26.
mally used to provide the required bonding pressure while the
The design tensile stress, rt,90,d, may be calculated as
adhesive is curing.
6M ap;d
rt;90;d ¼ kp 2
ð3Þ
b  hap

where Map,d is the design moment at the apex, hap is the depth of the
beam at the apex and kp is a function of the taper angle, the radius
and the depth at the apex [47]. The load to be carried by discrete

Fig. 18. Prosthesis with scarf connection. Fig. 19. Beam end repair using bonded in rods or plates.
 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13 9

Widmann et al. [42] investigated the shear reinforcement of

delaminated glulam beams. Glulam beams with delaminated mid-
dle lamellae were loaded to failure and then reinforced with
self-tapping screws or epoxy bonded CFRP side sheets oriented at
45° to the beam axis. Both approaches showed a significant
increase in nominal shear strength of the beams. The ultimate
shear strength could not be determined as different failure modes
were found.
Trautz and Koi [53] described a series of tests performed on
glued-laminated beams reinforced with screws using different
arrangements to carry tensile and compressive forces. The shear
stiffness beams reinforced with screws arranged in a nested pat-
tern with screws carrying loads in tension and compression was
Fig. 20. GFRP rods inserted in ends of propped beams [18]. superior to that achieved by reinforcing with diagonal tension
screws only.
Dietsch et al. [54] describe design approaches for the shear rein-
connectors, such as screws or glued in rods, is the total of all tensile forcement of timber beams in the unfractured and fractured states.
stresses on an area equal to the connector spacing by the beam The types of reinforcement considered are self-tapping screws or
width. The capacity of the connectors is determined by the with- threaded rods deployed at an angle to the beam. The models
drawal capacity and the tensile strength. account for the enhancement in shear performance resulting from
The reduced section of the beam due to drilling of holes for the compression induced perpendicular to the grain by the reinforce-
radial reinforcement must be considered in the design. As the por- ment. Comparison with results of experimental tests provided
tion of the holes below the neutral axis cannot be considered effec- the validation of the shear stiffness and strength predictions. For
tive in tension, the section modulus in bending is reduced [46]. unfractured beams, an increase in capacity of 20% is achievable
when reinforced with threaded rods. For fractured beams, the max-
3.6. Shear reinforcement imum increase in bending stress compared to the intact beam is
33%.
The methods available to strengthen beams in shear are the
same as those described for reinforcement against tension perpen-
dicular to the grain. These include internal reinforcement in the 3.7. Reinforcement in compression perpendicular to the grain
form of screws and bonded-in rods of steel or FRP and external
reinforcement in the form of side plates. Crocetti et al. [55] undertook experimental investigations of the
Akbiyik et al. [48] investigated the shear reinforcement of tim- compressive strength perpendicular to the grain of glulam beams
ber stringers with horizontal splits using hex bolts, lag screws, and reinforced internally with glued-in steel rods and glued-in hard-
plywood and GFRP side plates. The bolts were epoxy bonded in wood dowels and externally with screwed-on steel side plates.
vertical holes drilled from the top. The lag screws were installed The beams reinforced with glued-in rods all failed in buckling
vertically and at 45°. The plywood and GFRP side plates were and resulted in a significant increase in both strength and stiffness
attached to the sides of the beams using screws. All repair types over the unreinforced beams. The beams reinforced with side
were effective with an average increase in the residual shear plates also produced a significant enhancement in the compression
capacity of 62%. None of the repaired specimens recovered the ori- strength.
ginal undamaged stiffness. The extent of the existing damage had a Blass and Bejtka [39] proposed a design model for the compres-
big influence of the effectiveness of the repair. For the more highly sive capacity, R90,d, of a beam support reinforced using self-tapping
damaged stringers, the use of GFRP side plates was the most effi- screws that accounts for buckling and screw withdrawal. This may
cient method. be expressed as
Several investigators examined FRP shear reinforcement of ( )
nRd þ kc;90  lef ;1  b  f c;90;d
beams [42,48–51]. Radford [49] reported an increase in stiffness R90;d ¼ min ð4Þ
of over 270% when using epoxy bonded side plates of GFRP with b  lef ;2  f c;90;d
the fibres oriented at ±45° to the beam axis. The use of vertical
GFRP shear spikes produced a stiffness enhancement of over where n is the number of screws, Rd is the lesser of the withdrawal
160%. Inserting the shear spikes at a spacing equal to the beam capacity and the buckling capacity of the screw, fc,90,d is the design
depth was found to be the most effective. Gentry [51] also used a value of the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain [47], b
combination of FRP flexural plate and FRP shear pins to reinforce is the beam width, lef,1 and lef,2 are the lengths as defined in Fig. 27,
glulams. Svecova and Eden [52] used GFRP bars to reinforce beams and kc,90 is a load distribution coefficient in the range [1;1.75]
from a bridge. This resulted in a significant increase in strength and In existing structures, the insertion of screws or glued-in rods at
decrease in variability. locations of concentrated loading may be difficult to achieve.

3.8. General remarks

Reinforcement methods for the most commonly occurring situ-

ations have been described. Other cases, such as tensile and com-
pressive failure parallel to the grain, have not been discussed
here. In practical terms, the choice of reinforcement method for
existing timber beams will be based not only on the ability of
the reinforcement to provide adequate strengthening of the struc-
ture but will be constrained by other factors such as aesthetics,
Fig. 21. External reinforcement arrangements. need for reversibility, access for repair, and available expertise.
10 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

Fig. 22. Internal reinforcement arrangements.

annexes added over the intervening years resulting in a complex

roof structure. Failure of the roof valley drainage system has
resulted in prolonged exposure of the roof structure to moisture
leading to wet rot in the span beams, hip rafters and ceiling joists.
An upgrade procedure was required that did not interfere with
the ornate suspended ceiling. The solution that was adopted was to
replace the decayed timber in-situ with a prosthesis made from
laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Due to the restriction on access,
the connection between the prosthesis and the hip rafters was
effected using slots routed in the sides of the prosthesis and the
rafter into which six 16 mm diameter high tensile steel rods were
bonded using a two-part epoxy structural adhesive. Fig. 28 shows
the prosthesis in place with the rods inserted in the slots prior to
topping up with adhesive.
Fig. 23. Load–deflection response of unreinforced (A) and reinforced (D1, D2, D3)
beams, [19]. The span beams were repaired using an LVL prosthesis that was
attached to the beams using six 20 mm diameter steel rods. The
As the reinforcing elements generally have different stiffness, rods were bonded into holes drilled into the end grain of the beams
thermal expansion and moisture absorption properties than the and into matching side slots in the prosthesis, as shown in Fig. 29.
timber element, factors such as constrained shrinkage and swelling Due to the lighter loading carried by the ceiling joists, it was suffi-
due to thermal or moisture changes must be considered and if nec- cient to use a C24 softwood timber prosthesis that was bonded to
essary additional thermal or moisture induced stresses should be the joists using two 12 mm GFRP rods. Fig. 20 shows the rods
accounted for in design. Agreed methods for determining these inserted in the joists before adding the prosthesis.
stresses are not currently available. Where the reinforcement
results in a significant change in beam stiffness, it is important to 4.2. Sins Bridge, Switzerland – flexural reinforcement [56,57]
consider the consequences for the overall behaviour and load dis-
tribution of the entire structure. Sins Bridge is a historic two-span timber arch bridge over Reuss
River at Sins in Switzerland. It was originally built in 1807 and the
4. Case studies eastern side was rebuilt after being blown up during the 1852 Civil
War. It comprises two equal spans of 30.8 m and was designed for
4.1. Clyne Castle, Wales – replacement of decayed parts [18] horse-drawn carriages. In 1992, it was upgraded to carry 20 tonne
vehicles. This involved the installation of a new 200 mm thick
Clyne Castle is a Grade II listed building near Swansea in Wales, transversely prestressed timber deck and the strengthening of
which was originally built in 1791 but which has had numerous two transverse cross-beams with CFRP laminates.

Fig. 24. Typical reinforcement arrangements for notches. (a) & (b) self-tapping screws, (c) & (d) glued-in rods, (e) & (f) EWP or FRP side plates.
 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13 11

Fig. 25. Reinforcement of openings.

Fig. 26. Reinforcement of pitched camber beams.

Fig. 27. Reinforcement for compression perpendicular to the grain.

Fig. 29. Span beam repair [18].

Fig. 28. Hip rafter repair [18]. Fig. 30. Long-term monitoring of Sins Bridge, [57].

The cross-beams comprised two solid oak beams placed one on

top of the other. The 1 mm thick CFRP laminates were bonded to 5. Conclusion
the top and bottom surfaces using epoxy resin. Two types of
CFRP were used: One was a high modulus material (E = 305 GPa, Due to the impact of different aspects like moisture changes,
tensile strength = 2300 MPa) and the other was a high strength fungi and insect attacks, timber beam elements can be damaged
material (E = 152 GPa, tensile strength = 2600 MPa). and resulting in lower capacity and larger deformations. High
The reinforced cross-beams and a number of unreinforced stresses exceeding the strength limits can also lead to different
crossbeams were instrumented with electrical resistance strain types of failure cases, like bending, compression, tension or shear
gauges and Demec gauges in order to monitor their long-term per- failure. Furthermore, changes in building use can lead to a require-
formance (Fig. 30). The deflection of the reinforced cross-beams ment for increased load bearing capacity in structural timber beam
was 20–50% lower than the unreinforced beams. Fourteen years elements. The analyses of several assessment reports showed, most
after the original installation, the performance of the reinforced damaged structural timber elements present cracks in the grain
beams continued to be satisfactory [56]. direction due to any of the aforementioned cases. In all of these
12 S. Franke et al. / Construction and Building Materials 97 (2015) 2–13

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