Behaviour of kempas timber beam strengthened with CFRP and steel plates under bending

The structural utilization of timber is usually limited by the relatively low bending stiffness and strength of the material in relation to other products like concrete and steel. One potential solution to increase the stiffness and strength of the timber is by reinforcing them with plates or rods. In order to attach the reinforcement to timber; the use of structural adhesive has been widely accepted with condition that the bond formed should be strong enough to transfer shear from one substrate to another. The present study is an effort to investigate the viability of using steel and carbon fiber reinforced polymer as reinforcements in Malaysian Tropical timber beams. This study specifically focuses on the investigation of different configurations to come up with an optimum reinforcement arrangement which maximises the stiffness/strength properties.The results showed that the bending strength properties of timber beam strengthened with CFRP plate is higher than strengthened with steel plate.