Our statistics: Failure ~20100 kPa at impurity in bottom flange, Deflection - minimal.
Group 15’s Plywood box beam, similar to ours, failed nearly 14000 kPa earlier. This beam was only 400mm high, and therefore sacrificed some strength by a reduction in cross sectional volume. It also had a poorly thought out nailing pattern and only 2 sheets of plywood, loosely nailed to the internal members. The plywood distorted and detached under the stress and hence, proved inadequate. Twisting in the beam also occured as a result of this. The bottom flange failed at a knot, largely due to the fact that it was taking nearly all of the vertical load, transferred through only two vertical members nearby.
In contrast, our beam had ‘doubled up’ members at even spacings (as opposed to single pieces of pine closer together), including beneath the load. Our plywood was layered in such a way that the join at mid span was covered and glued to avoid weakness. The nailing pattern was also a key factor in the success of the plywood. The photos in the slideshow show all of these features.
Another beam similar to ours was Group 17’s. However, this beam had a series of diagonal internal members similar to a truss. This beam was clad in just one sheet of plywood, which reduced tensile strength. It failed at 12000 kPa at a knot on the underside of the flange. Another contributing factor to this beams failure was that the nails holding on the plywood were too close to the edge of the internal members. as the fixable area was only 35mm wide as opposed to our 75mm. Under pressure, these nails pulled from the members and reduced the effectiveness of the plywood.