Behaviour of Glulam and LVL Beams Loaded Perpendicular to the Grain

The paper discusses the behaviour of glulam and LVL beams loaded perpendicular to the
grain. Tests were performed where different configurations were examined: In case of glulam, the support length and the load situation were varied. In the LVL tests, the veneer orientation was
additionally varied. The deformations across the beam height are analysed for glulam beams. The main
contribution to the deformation occurs in the immediate vicinity of the contact area.
However, also areas in the middle and lower area of the beam height significantly contribute to the total deformation.
A design model based on effective stresses and the contributing grain length is proposed for the analyzed materials which allows the direct consideration of deformation and is in good agreement with the load deformation curves of the performed tests. A differentiation between and ULS and SLS is possible.