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Development Of An Frp Reinforced Hardwood Glulam Guardrail, Joshua Keith Botting

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the development of an aesthetically pleasing, cost effective, timber guardrail system, which utilizes low-grade New England hardwoods such as red maple and beech. This required that several issues be addressed, including structural modeling, rail section design, rail fabrication, evaluation of durability, rail-to-rail field splice connection design, and the evaluation of guardrail system performance under impact loading. The use of glulam beams in infrastructure is increasing rapidly with the reduced availability and increase in cost of high grade solid sawn timber. New techniques allow for increased material usage while maintaining a high strength product. Selective stacking of …