BULETINUL INSTITUTULUI POLITEHNIC DIN IAŞI Publicat de Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iaşi Tomul LVIII (LXII), Fasc. 1, 2012 Secţia CONSTRUCŢII. ARHITECTURĂ ANALYSIS OF WOOD BENDING PROPERTIES ON STANDARDIZED SAMPLES AND STRUCTURAL SIZE BEAMS TESTS BY DORINA ISOPESCU * , OANA STĂNILĂ and IULIAN ASTANEI “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iaşi Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services Received: January 11, 2012 Accepted for publication: Febuary 23, 2012 Abstract. Wood has several unique, independent mechanical properties. Physical and mechanical properties of wood have a large number of values determined by the influences of an extended number of factors. These timber properties do vary from species to species and even within species due to environmental conditions during growth. However, because of its cellular structure and the way in which these cells are organized the strength of the wood product depends mainly on the direction of any loading. This paper presents an analysis of the results obtained by testing standardized specimens and structural size beams, according to standards requirements in force for simple bending. Small samples were tested for three-point bending and real scale beams were tested for four-point bending. Conclusions are based on the obtained results. Key words: wood elements; bending; laboratory test. 1. Introduction Since ancient times, wood and stone have been important building materials. Wood is an inexpensive material. Forest is a wood factory which produces wood using only solar energy. Only minimum amounts of power are * Corresponding author: e-mail: isopescu@ce.tuiasi.ro