Enhancing Bending Performance of Engineered Wood Cellular Beams: Insights from Compressive Strength
ORCID
Lamichhane: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4003-6368
MSU Affiliation
College of Forest Resources; Department of Sustainable Bioproducts
Creation Date
2025-12-11
Abstract
Wood-based cellular beams are an emerging and promising research topic due to their high specific bending stiffness and bending strength, comparable to glulam which is primarily used in mass timber construction. This study evaluates the compressive behavior of these beams to further enhance their bending load-carrying capacity. Corrugated panels were fabricated using commercial wood strands obtained by processing small-diameter Southern Yellow Pine. The layout of the corrugated panels, determined by the orientation of the corrugation axis relative to the beam dimensions, results in cellular beams with different configurations. Common configurations were examined in terms of their compressive behavior. Establishing a clear and proportional relationship between the compressive strength and the bending load-carrying capacity proved challenging. However, insights from the compressive behavior of these configurations led to the development of a new beam design, which was evaluated under both compressive and bending loads. This new configuration, with improved compressive performance, resulted in a lightweight beam with higher bending stiffness and bending strength compared to a glulam beam. When normalized by density, the bending stiffness and maximum bending load were 16 % and 2 % higher, respectively, than a glulam beam of similar dimensions. These results underscore the potential of engineered cellular beams as lightweight, sustainable alternatives to traditional mass timber beams.
Publication Date
10-30-2025
Publication Title
Structures
Publisher
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Lamichhane, A., Vasudevan, A. K., & Mohammadabadi, M. (2025). Enhancing bending performance of engineered wood cellular beams: Insights from compressive strength. Structures, 82, 110564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.istruc.2025.110564
