Flexural performance of wooden beams strengthened by composite plate

Using bonded fiber-reinforced polymer laminates for strengthening wooden structural members has been shown to be an effective and economical method. In this research, properties of suitable composite materials (sika wrap), adhesives and two ways of strengthening beams exposed to bending moment are presented. Passive or slack reinforcement is one way of strengthening. The most effective way of such a strengthening was to place reinforcement laminates in the stretched part of the wooden beam (lower part in our case), in order to investigate the effectiveness of externally bonding FRP to their soffits. The model is based on equilibrium and deformations compatibility requirements in and all parts of the strengthened beam, i.e., the wooden beam, the sika wrap composite plate and the adhesive layer. The theoretical predictions are compared with other existing solutions. This research is helpful for the understanding on mechanical behaviour of the interface and design of the composite-wooden hybrid structures. The results showed that the use of the new strengthening system enhances the performance of the wooden beam when compared with the traditional strengthening system.