Capacity and reliability of LVL beams manufactured from juvenile hardwood plantation logs

Abstract

This paper summarises parts of the research outcomes of a university-government collaborative project aiming at determining the capacity and reliability of veneer-based structural products manufactured from early to mid-rotation (juvenile) hardwood plantations logs. Two species planted for solid timber end-products (Eucalyptus cloeziana and Corymbia citriodora) and one species traditionally grown for pulpwood (Eucalyptus globulus) were studied for the manufacture of the new products. Focus of this paper is on LVL beams. To cost-effectively determine the nominal design bending strengths of the new beams, a numerical model was developed. The model was found to accurately predict the strength of LVL beams with an average predicted to experimental ratio of 1.00 with a low coefficient of variation of 0.10. Using an established probabilistic database of the material properties of the veneered resources as model input, Monte-Carlo simulations were then performed. The design strength of the new LVL beams was established and found to be comparable to, and in some cases up to 2.5 times higher than, the ones of commercially available softwood products. Recommendations are also made in the paper on the appropriate capacity factors to be used for various service categories of structures. The proposed capacity factors were found to be 5% to 12% lower than the ones currently used in Australia for beams manufactured from mature softwood logs.