Experimental Study on Rotational Behavior of Bolted Glulam Beam-to-column Connections Reinforced Using CFRP Sheets

In this study, three groups of bolted glulam beam-to-column connections with slotted-in steel plates (in total 11 full-scale specimens) were tested under monotonic loading to investigate the rotational behavior of such connections with the use of carbon fiber reinforcing polymer sheets wrapping. The influence of CFRP sheet layers on the performance improvement of the connections was also quantified. The test results indicated that the maximum moments were increased by 14% and 18% for reinforced connections wrapped using 1 and 2 layers of CFRP sheets, respectively; furthermore, the deformability ratios evaluated based on the rotation angles corresponding to the yielding and maximum moments, respectively, were increased by 78% and 72%. It was also found that the variation of the maximum moment of reinforced connections can be reduced with increased layers of CFRP sheets.