Methods of strengthening cross-laminated timber manufactured using Irish Sitka Spruce: a preliminary study

ABSTRACT Climate change is a current global issue which must be addressed in order to create a sustainable future. While European countries have embraced the use of sustainable, naturally sourced materials, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), their use in the UK and Ireland is much more limited. Currently, CLT is only manufactured in mainland Europe using C24 timber. This has higher characteristic properties than the most common grade of timber grown in the UK and Ireland. The UK climate generally results in fast growing trees, leading to lower density timber which is often correlated to lower strength properties. This research investigates the drying and conditioning methods used to achieve a moisture content of 12%, which is required to produce CLT panels according to European standards. The addition of a strengthening material, glass fibre mesh produces a novel product for the construction industry while improving a CLT panels overall performance in bending and shear, examined through a 4-point bending test. The research also focuses on finding the most suitable way of incorporating the glass fibre mesh between the bottom two layers of CLT panels with various adhesive techniques, examined through shear tests.