An initial investigation of the inverted trussed beam formed by wooden rectangular cross section enlaced with wire rope

This work presents a contribution to understand the inverted trussed beams behavior. The system has a main beam and struts with rectangular cross section associated to a wire rope enlaced to the main beam. It is an unpublished system with the advantage of easy positioning of the wire rope, once it is a continuous and connected by turnbuckles. It is a system that can be used as support for concrete formworks or for rehabilitation wooden beams proposal. The enlacement of the cable demands a small notch at the top of the cross section and a cross pin at the bottom. Six inverted trussed beams were tested, with spans of 180 cm with cables diameter of 1/4\". Additionally, four simple beams without any external steel cable were also tested with material from the same lot of wood, allowing a comparison in rupture. The results showed capacity gain of around 60% compared to a simple beam. Once the wire rope characteristics and anchoring are very important for structure response, some improvement suggestions for the efficiency of the cables are also presented.