Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) for strengthening timber beams

Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) have been evaluated for engineered timber products, but only a few investigations have been carried out on their use for strengthening timber beams. Timber beams are extensively used for housing construction, light commercial and industrial building. There are also a number of bridges built with timber. A recent investigation indicates that carbon composites can be effectively used to improve strength and stiffness of timber beams, but existing linear material models can not be used for analysis and prediction of strength. This paper presents a non-linear model for the analysis of strengthened timber beams. Comparison of analytical and experimental results shows that the model provides a very good prediction. Procedures for estimating the material parameters needed for nonlinear analysis are also presented.