Failure analysis of ribbed cross-laminated timber plates

The process of material failure i.e. cracks development and their propagation in an experiment related to the bending collapse of cross laminated timber plate with ribs is described. Numerical simulation of such an experiment by the nonlinear finite element method is presented. The numerical model is based on Hashin failure criteria, initially developed for unidirectional composites, and on material softening concept applied by the smeared crack approach. It is shown that such a numerical model can be used for an estimation of the limit load and the limit displacement of a cross laminated timber ribbed plate.