Fracture analysis of glued laminated timber beams with a hole using a 3D cohesive zone model
Introducing a hole in a glued laminated timber (glulam) beam generally results in a significant decrease in load bearing capacity. Global strength is most often limited by perpendicular to grain fracture with crack initiation at hole periphery and crack propagation in the grain direction. Strength analysis and design is far from trivial, which is reflected by the lack of design criteria in contemp