Assessment of natural and artificial ageing of glued laminated timber. Core drilling, shear and delamination tests.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the results obtained on glued laminated timber beams of maritime pine, with and without preservative treatment, exposed to natural outdoor environment as well as to artificial weathering. The assessment of glue lines’ degradation due to ageing was investigated through the extraction and testing of core and block shear specimens, and delamination tests. The results highlight the different performances of glulam made with various preservative treatments and cure temperatures, in terms of the measured delamination and shear strength after the ageing process. They also show that shear testing of drilled cores may be a promising tool in the assessment of glulam structures on site.