Flexural behavior of cold-formed thin-walled steel-glulam composite beams

A bending test was carried out on eight composite beams made of spruce and steel-glued laminated timber (glulam). The failure mode and failure mechanism of the component were analyzed through experiments, and the influence of different section sizes on the bending performance of composite beams was studied. Test results show that with the increase of the cross-section of glulam by 200%, the flexural capacity of the composite beam increases by 16.08%-20.70%, and with the increase of the thickness of the steel by 50%, the flexural capacity of the composite beam increases by 33.73%-37.69%. The influence of the glulam width and steel thickness was studied by using a finite-element model to evaluate the composite beams' bending performance. Based on the experimental results and finite-element model, a formula for calculating the flexural bearing capacity of cold-formed thin-walled steel-glulam composite beams is proposed.