Bending creep of glued laminated timber (glulam) using sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) laminae with extremely low Young’s modulus for the inner layers

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to establish whether sugi lumber with an extremely low Young’s modulus, which is plentifully produced in southern Japan, can be practically used as laminae for glued laminated timber (glulam) from the viewpoint of long-term performance under loading. Bending creep tests were carried out on sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) glulam with extremely low Young’s modulus laminae (3–4 kN/mm²) for the inner layers, as were tests on hybrid glulam with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) laminae (14–15 kN/mm²) for the outermost layer and sugi laminae (including those with a Young’s modulus of 3–4 kN/mm²) for the inner layers. The specimens were eight glulam beams with different compositions that were 105 mm wide, 210 mm deep, and 3980 mm long. The term of the creep test was 4 years. The results are summarized as follows. First, there were no significant differences between the Young’s modulus or bending creep of glulam L30 (laminae with Young’s modulus of 3–4 kN/mm²) and that of glulam L50 (laminae with Young’s modulus of 5–6 kN/mm²) for the inner layers. Second, for asymmetric compositions, the behavior of increases and decreases of relative creep due to atmospheric changes showed opposite behavior for glulam loaded from the side of lower Young’s modulus and from the side of higher Young’s modulus. Third, the required experimental term for the creep test to estimate an accurate long-term curve is 1 or 2 years (with data for the first 6 months excluded) when the power law is used for the estimation. Fourth, the values of relative creep in 50 years obtained from the experimental term were much lower than 2, which is the standard value set by Notification No. 1459 of the Ministry of Construction in Japan, and these values were not affected by the composition of the laminae.