Experimental investigation of friction stresses between adjacent panels made of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and between OSB panels and glued laminated timber (GLT) frame members

The paper presents experimental investigations of friction properties (a) between adjacent sheathing panels made of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and (b) between OSB panels and glued laminated timber (GLT) frame members as they occur, for example, between parts of light-frame timber shear walls. The friction stresses are evaluated for different levels of compressive stress and different loading rates in monotonic and cyclic tests. The test results confirm that the static friction coefficients are larger and have a larger variability than the kinetic friction coefficients. The friction coefficients between the GLT frame members and the OSB panels are in general smaller than the friction coefficients between the sheathing panels themselves. The tests show that the friction coefficients decrease with increasing cumulative sliding displacement. Analysis of the contact surface before and after the shear test indicates that the sliding reduces the height of the asperities of the contact surfaces. However, after a cumulative displacement of about 100 mm the friction coefficients remain approximately constant.