Flexural behaviour of wood beams strengthened by flax-glass hybrid FRP subjected to hygrothermal and weathering exposures

This paper addressed the flexural behaviour (i.e., maximum load, ductility index, flexural strength and stiffness) of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams strengthened by 2-layer flax-glass hybrid fibre reinforced polymer (HFRP) exposed to hygrothermal (50℃ and 95% RH) and weathering (cyclic water spray-ultraviolet radiation) conditions for one month. Effects of environmental exposure and fabric sequences on flexural behaviour of LVL-HFRP beams were studied. LVL-FG and LVL-GF beams (inner plies bonded to LVL were flax and glass fibres, respectively) were tested under four-point bending. Tensile test on HFRP flat coupons was also conducted to provide the tensile parameters of HFRP in LVL-HFRP beams. This study showed that the hygrothermal and weathering exposures reduced the maximum load (by 11.4-32.2%), flexural strength (by 19.1-40.0%) and increased the ductility index (by 18.3-41.7%) of LVL-HFRP beams. The hygrothermal exposure did not affect flexural stiffness. The fabric sequence affected the flexural behaviour of LVL-HFRP beams. LVL-GF beams showed lower maximum load and flexural strength than those of the LVL-FG beams, which was attributed to the HFRP delamination in the LVL-GF beams. A theoretical prediction model for the ultimate bending moments of LVL-HFRP beams was used, and the calculated values showed a good agreement with the experiments.