Abstract:
In recent years, increased focus has been placed on the development of timber as a natural renewable construction material. However, there exists significant potential for the development of environmentally friendly engineered structural elements by combining timber based products with other natural materials. Basalt is one such natural material. Limited research has been undertaken into the use of basalt fibre profiles for strengthening engineered wood products. This paper describes experimental test programmes whereby the pull-out performance of adhesively bonded-in basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) rods in timber was examined as well as the flexural performance of low-grade glued laminated timber strengthened using BFRP rods. The results showed that good quality bonds can be achieved with BFRP rods for non-moisture cycled and moisture cycled specimens when using carefully selected epoxy adhesives. Furthermore, moderate enhancements in stiffness and considerable improvements in ultimate moment capacity were recorded when BFRP rods were used as reinforcement in glued laminated timber. Increased ductility was associated with the reinforced beams in comparison to that of the unreinforced beams. Strain profile readings from the beams which included the reinforcement demonstrated improved utilisation of the compression characteristics of the timber particularly when the location of the reinforcement is in the optimum position. For all beam testing, a quality bond is reported between the BFRP rods and wood.