The Influence of Cyclic Loading on Ultimate Bending Strength of Beech Solid and Laminated Wood

This work investigates the influence of cyclic loading of beech solid and laminated wood of various thicknesses on ultimate bending strength (ultimate flexural strength) σp during bending in radial direction. For identification of ultimate bending strength, the static bending test with three-point loading was used. The ultimate bending strength was detected on testing samples that were not cyclically loaded and the results were compared with other results obtained from samples that were cyclically loaded. The results of this work show that the influence of cyclic loading on values of ultimate bending strength for solid and laminated wood is not significant. Thickness influence is a significant factor for both tested materials. The results show that the increase of thickness causes the decrease of ultimate bending strength. In our opinion, the decrease of ultimate bending strength is not caused by the sample thickness but by different sample lengths. With the increase of the sample length, the influence