A Review of Dowel Connection for Glulam Timber Strengthening with GFRP

Glued laminated timber also known as glulam had been widely used as construction materials. As the demands are increasing, the research to optimize the strength of glulam timber also increasing. It is known from previous study that glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) is significantly increased the strength of timber. It could be also an essential material in rehabilitation process of glulam timber in terms of cost reducing. This paper mainly review on the previous study in determining the flexural performances of timber by using GFRP which clearly indicates from the results that GFRP is one of the favor materials in enhancing the timber strength. Overall, most of the study focusing on the application of GFRP together with connectors in glulam timber. There is also significant value of timber strength in the review researches that only layered or wrapped by GFRP and timber strength that used together with GFRP and strengthened with connector. Hence further research should be focus on finding flexural performances of glulam timber with GFRP strengthened with connector.