Experimental study of the flexural behavior of timber beams reinforced with different kinds of FRP and metallic fibers

Abstract This article involves a comparative study of the flexural behavior of timber beams reinforced with four kinds of unidirectional fiber (FRP) and metallic fibers attached to the outside using epoxy resins. The reinforcements were made using normal carbon fiber, high elastic modulus carbon fiber, glass fiber, basalt fiber and metallic fiber. Furthermore, three different test configurations were tested for each fiber type: one layer of material attached to the bottom, two layers of material attached to the bottom and two layers of material attached to the sides. The test involving unreinforced beams acted as a benchmark. The results show that reinforcing with fibers can substantially increase the initial resistance of the beams, the reinforcements made from lower elastic modulus fibers such as basalt and glass obtaining better results.