Numerical study of I-joists with wood-based corrugated panel web

Oriented strand board (OSB) panels are widely used as the best web solution for wooden I-joists. Many previous studies have focused on testing various new web materials, but few have examined the contribution of other web shapes to the I-joists’ behavior. The use of corrugated wood-based panels as I-joist web has been investigated. The aim of this study was to analyze the sensitivity of the joist in bending tests to the elastic properties of the corrugated web using a numerical approach with the finite element method. Joists with a corrugated web were manufactured and tested in long- and short-span bending tests and compared to traditional I-joists with an OSB web. The results obtained were encouraging. Results show that the in-plane shear modulus is the most critical elastic property in the behavior of the joist and is estimated at 1300 MPa to reproduce the same behavior of the corrugated web joist as that experimentally tested. The numerical approach also enabled determination of the corrugated web’s shear failure mode. This mode of failure manifested itself as interactive buckling, followed by the creation of diagonal tension lines.