Bending and Rolling Shear Properties of Cross-Laminated Timber Fabricated with Canadian Hemlock

In this paper, bending performance and rolling shear properties of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels made from Canadian hemlock were investigated by varied approaches. Firstly, three groups of bending tests of three-layer CLT panels with different spans were carried out. Different failure modes were obtained: bending failure, rolling shear failure, bonding line failure, local failure of the outer layer and mixed failure mode. Deflection and strain measurements were employed to calculate the global and local modulus of elastic (MOE), compared with the theoretical value. In addition, a modified compression shear testing method was introduced to evaluate the rolling shear strength and modulus, compared with the results from strain measurements in bending shear tests. According to testing results, bonding line failure and rolling shear failure were dominant failure modes in bending tests, and the theoretical value of bending property was beyond the average level of the calculating results obtained from both deflection and strain measurements. In addition, the rolling shear strength and modulus obtained from compression shear tests were relatively smaller than those from bending tests.