Wood cracking in a recent structure

[Jeepitou]

Hello everyone,

I recently did an inspection of a glued laminated wood structure which had a lot of cracking in the columns. The beams seemed to have little to no crack.

I think it's principally due to shrinkage of the wood, since I could unscrew bolt from the wood by hand. The problem is that some crack are really deep, they are through the whole thickness of the column.

I have some difficulty thinking that only the drying of the wood could do such damage to it, unless they put it in a pool just before installation.

Any of you seen anything similar? Or have any others causes in mind that could have such behavior?

Thanks

 

[HouseBoy]

"Why not use glued laminated timber for columns supporting crane beams?"
Let's unpack a few things here:
Although some might not agree absolutely, it seems likely that glu-lam columns can readily be use for crane rail support HOWEVER in this case, the "combined" building column / crane rail column has created a huge problem. Namely, the differing loading is causing the column to tear apart at the notch. The notch is a problem and the combined behavior is a problem.
So, I think the problem is not necessarily the use of glu-lam columns, it is the mis-application of the "combined" column in his case exacerbated by the large notch.

I DO think that a secondary problem is that the base connection is restricting the outer plys of the column and causing splitting due to drying shrinkage. (Not nearly as important as the main problem indicated above but still, I think it is a problem)