EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF WOODENARCHES

This paper presents the findings of the pilot studi es of two-hinged wooden arches. The prototype models of wooden arches with the span of 6m and the rise of 1m were designed. The models had a rectangular cross-s ection of 180x40mm and a T-section of 180x40mm with a plywood plate with t he hickness of 6 mm and the width of 500mm. The main objective of the T-section was to ensure the stability of the arch. Each arch was composed of six segments – boards joined by clamping plates. The bowstring truss including two inclined tie bars enables carrying asymmetric loads and provides in-plane stability of the arch. A methodology for laboratory testing of the prototype models of wooden arch es subjected to different types of loads was developed. Two prototypes of wooden ar ches were tested with rectangular cross-sections and two T-section ones subj ected to the loading across the span, and two prototypes subjected to the half-span lo ding. In total, eight arches were tested. Deflections of arches, cross-section d eformations and arch thrust force were recorded. The arches were tested until failure . Th results of testing revealed insufficient stability of the arches with rectangul ar cross-section in the horizontal plane. For the arches with T-section the whole arch rib was damaged, the in-plane stability was ensured by the T-section. The collap sing force of the T-section arch was about 1.3times greater than the collapsing forc e of the rectangular section arches.