Conventional glued-laminated (glulam) beams often fail in bending-induced tension. In an attempt to strengthen glulam beams and delay or prevent this failure mode, a number of researchers have investigated the reinforcing of glulam timbers with different types of FRP on the tension face. Relatively few prior investigations have examined increasing glulam strength through the use of prestressed FRP tension reinforcing. This paper presents the development of a novel method of prestressing GFRP-reinforced glulam beams that involves clamping the pre-tensioned GFRP to the glulam and releasing the pre-tensioning while the GFRP-wood bond line is still wet. This results in a gradual transfer of stress from the GRFP to the wood via mechanical friction.
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