Behavior of Composite Wooden Beams and Thin Steel Plate under Bending

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the load-bearing, deflection and failure behaviors of wooden beams assembled from neem and rubber wood under bending. The assembled wooden beam has a cross-sectional size of 5 centimeters wide, 10 centimeters deep, and 140 centimeters long, connected by glue together with nails and reinforced with thin steel plates 2 centimeters wide along the entire length of the beam. A total of 4 profiles of beams were tested under a 4-point bending test. The deflection in the allowable range was recorded as L/156. The results showed that the mechanical properties of the neem and rubber wood used for the test were classified as softwood according to the standards of the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT). Timber beams assembled from neem can bear greater loads under bending than composite beams assembled from rubber wood about 26.28 percent because the effect of mechanical properties of neem wood was higher than that of rubber wood. When the 2 types of composite wooden beams are reinforced with thin steel plates. The average increase in the loading capacity of the neem wood beam was 9.23 percent, while the average increase in the rubber beam was 18.35 percent. When considering the failure behavior of the composite beams, it was found that the failure occurred at the junction of the composite beams with parallel-splinter crack failure characteristics.