Tapered beams made of cross laminated timber

A method to determine strength reduction factors for tapered beams made
of cross laminated timber (CLT) is presented. The method is based on EC5 equations
for the calculation of strength reduction factors for tapered glulam beams. For
CLT-beams, however, the required strength properties, i.e. the shear strength and
the tensile or compressive strength perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, are
determined considering the beam layup and the different failure modes both affecting
the characteristics of CLT-beams. The analytical approach was substantiated by
the good agreement that was found between the strength reduction factors obtained
from the analytical approach and the results of tests performed with double tapered
CLT-beams.