Experimental Research on Bending Performance of Prestressed Glulam-Concrete Composite Beams

Four sets of 12 bending tests of prestressed glued laminated timber (glulam)-concrete composite beams with different shear connections were tested. The test parameter is the shear connection form, including notch connections, notch plus screw connections, and the combination of multi connections. The results of the bending test showed that the main failure mode of the composite beams was the bending failure of the timber. For beams with the same notch plus screw connection, applying prestress increased the average bending bearing capacity by 20.3%, the average collapse bending stiffness by 10.1%. At failure, obvious slip occurred at the shear connection. The beam with notch plus screw connection showed better integrity and flexural capacity when it failed compared to the other two sets of composite beams, which meant that the notch plus screw connection presented a better connection effect.