An extensive body of research is currently available on the behaviour of concrete and steel structures when subjected to blast threats, however, little to no details on how to address the design or retrofitting of wood structures are available. In this paper, preliminary results, both experimental and analytical, are presented on the flexural behaviour of glulam beams under high strain rates. A
... [Show full abstract] total of three 80 mm × 228 mm × 2,500 mm glulam beams with a clear span of 2,235 mm were subjected to simulated blast loads using a shock tube. The preliminary experimental results showed that a brash tension failure mode was observed on the tension laminate. It was also shown that a simplified SDOF model, using linear elastic resistance curves, was capable of predicting the failure displacement and level of damage with reasonable accuracy.