Curved Beam: Wednesday’s Word Of The Week

A curved beam refers to a beam of constant cross section and typically with a constant radius of curvature. Straight beams are typically fabricated with a slight amount of curvature, or “camber”, but a curved beam will be bent to a much greater degree.

A curved beam may look similar to an arch, but its design is significantly different. A curved beam is designed to span without relying on any horizontal restraint at supports. Beam forces will tend to straighten the

curved beam, so radial tension forces will be present, and southern yellow pine is the recommended species.

*Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, discusses a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.