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• Radiata Pine manufactured cross laminated timber (CLT) using heterogeneous lamella were investigated. • There was a good agreement in bending results of CLT between the theoretical methods and experimental tests. • Developed FE modelling technique could capture the structural performance of CLT. • Improved bending performance was observed for panels with thinner thickness. Cross laminated timber (CLT) is a sustainable and innovative engineered timber product validated as a viable alternative to more traditional construction materials like reinforced concrete and steel for use in mid-rise prefabricated construction. The structural response of CLT heavily relies on the species of timber used in manufacturing with feedstock varying significantly due to the original source and plantation stand. In Australia, Radiata Pine commonly used for general purpose structural timber mainly in residential house framing. Australia's largest CLT manufacturer, XLam, use Radiata Pine to produce panels for prefabricated construction. The present paper investigates the out-of-plane bending behaviour of 24 XLam CLT panels utilising four-point loading configurations. Experimental results indicated brittle failure modes when the samples were loaded along both the major and minor axes. In addition, plane cross-sections remain plane assumption were confirmed from the strain data obtained from the experimental tests. Various analytical methods (Timoshenko, Gamma (γ), K, and Shear Analogy methods) assessed the bending properties of the test samples, with the shear analogy method yielding the most accurate prediction. Other theoretical methods produced reasonable outcomes in accessing the effective bending stiffness together with bending and shear strengths. Finally, the bending properties of CLT were investigated using finite element analysis, which capture the overall behaviour of Radiata Pine CLT panels adequately. The effect of panel thickness was then examined numerically to observe its effect on bending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Bending and shear behavior of Australian radiata pine cross-laminated timber. • FEM analysis to predict bending and shear strength of CLT. • Failure modes of CLT under out-of-plane bending and shear. • Comparison of bending and shear stiffness of CLT between tests and theoretical. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is increasingly being used in commercial and residential construction in Australia due to its inherent strength and sustainability credentials. Until recently, infrastructure building projects using CLT have been reliant on imported products from overseas manufacturers. There is now a viable Australian grown and fabricated CLT product from Radiata pine. This paper summarises the experimental results on the mechanical behaviour of Australian Radiata pine CLT panels in out-of-plane bending and shear. Three-layer 105 mm thick panels and five-layer 145 mm panels with three different spans were tested. The results demonstrate strong correlations to existing theoretical models and were used to validate the finite element model (FEM) developed in this research. The experimental results showed that the average bending stiffness of the CLT panels were marginally greater than theoretical values. The maximum bending strength for Radiata pine exceeded the characteristic strength of 14.0 MPa for grade XLG1 external laminas, with three-layer CLT samples averaging 28.7 MPa and five-layer CLT samples averaging 26.8 MPa. The maximum observed shear stresses ranged from 1.55 MPa to 2.18 MPa, which also exceeded the rolling shear characteristic strength of 1.2 MPa for the feedstock. The results also highlighted that the shear strength decreases with an increasing thickness of the CLT panel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]