A Review of Shear Properties for Malaysian Tropical Timber in Structural Size

Abstract

In recent years, the studies on producing data on physical and mechanical properties of Malaysian timber specimens have evolved from small clear specimen to structural size specimen, where most of the research method was based on the American Standard Testing Manual ASTM D198. Numerous data regarding mechanical properties on structural size specimen have been produced through this method, such as bending and compression test. Unfortunately, studies on shear properties on structural size timber are very scarce. It has reviewed that the global timber researchers are focusing to produce data on shear properties of European timber species such as Oak, Spruce and Pine where both shear strength and shear modulus data were obtained from bending and torsion test. Furthermore, from the review of the existing literature, it is clear that there is no proper studies focusing on development of shear properties of Malaysian tropical timber, especially torsion test in accordance with EN 408:2010. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the shear properties (shear strength and shear modulus) of Malaysian Tropical Timber in large size.