Vc. Kelley et al., STRESS-DISTRIBUTION AMONG LAMINATES IN LAMINATED POSTS IN REGION NEARABRUPT SECTION CHANGE, Transactions of the ASAE, 39(5), 1996, pp. 1831-1838
Four unspliced laminated posts were strain gaged and loaded in bending
to determine how stresses are shared among the laminates around abrup
t section changes. The posts were mechanically laminated 2x6s construc
ted from three foil-length boards plus one half-length board which end
ed abruptly at the center of the post length. The posts were tested to
simulate both simply supported and cantilever beams. The posts were a
lso simulated with FEAST (Finite Element Analysis of Spliced Timber; B
ohnhoff, 1987) to compare test results with theoretical analysis. In t
he region near an abrupt change, the full length laminate nearest the
abrupt change had 11% more stress than would be predicted if the desig
ner assumed that all laminates shared the load equally. The half-lengt
h board did not develop its share of the post stress until around 1000
mm below the abrupt change. FEAST predicted stresses in an abrupt sec
tion change post within 7% of measured stress.