European beech glued laminated timber
European beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) is currently used only to a very limited extent for the production of glued laminated timber (glulam). Although this most widespread hardwood species in Central Europe has a very high potential in terms of strength and stiffness, besides its application to railway construction (as sleepers), it has so far been mainly used by the furniture industry and for heating purposes. One main reason for this is the lack of standards and guidelines regulating the production, quality control and specifying the mechanical properties of beech glulam. In this paper, an extensive research project aiming at determining the mechanical properties of beech glulam is presented. Based on bending, tension, compression, buckling and shear tests on beech glulam specimens of different cross sections and strength classes and taking into account previous investigations as well as the results of numerical simulations, the mechanical properties of beech glulam are determined. Furthermore, formulas to account for the effect of the member size on the bending and shear strength as well as buckling curves for the design of columns made of beech glulam are presented.