Chapter Nine

Timber Structures

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 9.1 Introduction
• There are about 30,000 different species of trees
and of these close to 100 different species are
exploited as a proper source of timber in Ethiopia.
• structures whose major constituent components
are timber are known as timber structures.
• Timbers are used both in structural and non-
structural members in various civil engineering
applications such as
– buildings of various types,
– bridges
– power transmission and communication towers, among
others.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages of Timber
• Advantages • Disadvantages
• Timber is available in many • Organic in nature which affects
countries its quality
• Easy to handle and change in • No apparent control over its
to various forms quality ( other materials are
man made and therefore same
• It has nearly same properties form of quality control at their
in compression, tension, and production)
flexure and has high elasticity
• Strength is affected by
• There is a good relation moisture
between its bearing capacity
and own weight • Timber changes its volume
or/and shape depending on its
• Good resistant against moisture content
chemicals
• It is inflammable
• Nearly no length change in
response to temperature • Many years has elapsed for a
variation tree to be exploited as timber
• Nearly no electric conductivity

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 9.2 Timber Properties
• Grain Nature: The angle between the grain and the direction of the
application of the load influences the strength on a much wider
scale.
• Density and Moisture Content: Generally, Strength increases with
density and decreases with rising moisture content and hence
correction to permissible stress is required
• Temperature: Its effect on strength is not considered in the design
of timber structures.
• Defects: Knots should be considered in the design of timber as they
affect the capacity.
• Duration of loading: Wooden beams loaded continuously for a
longer period of time fail at a load ½ to ¾ of the load required to
cause failure in a couple of minutes.
– Main loading categories in duration terms are:
• Short term load ( minutes to hours, such as wind or earthquake)
• Medium term load ( hours to months, such as live loads)
• Long term Loads ( in years, such as dead loads)

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 Permissible stresses
• Permissible stresses are obtained from large number of tests. They
are given in specifications (EBCS 5). Corrections to permissible
stresses
a) According to moisture content
– Dry condition ( indoor structures): +20%
– Moist condition (out door strictures): 0%
– Wet condition ( under water structures): -20%
b) According to loading duration
– Short term loads ( wind): +20%
– Medium term loads ( Live): 0%
– Long term loads: ( dead) -20%
c) Load correction factors
– Short term ( Dead + imposed + wind): 0.8
– Medium term (dead + temporary imposed): 1.0
– Long term ( Dead + permanent imposed): 1.25

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 9.3 Design of Members
• The various design concepts and detailing procedures for timber are similar to
those involved in steel structures
• Tension Members: - Generally, the following ASD equation should be satisfied:
T
– T = tensile force
f t  Ft , //
An
– An = net cross sectional area
– Ft,// = allowable tensile stress parallel to the grain
• Note: For tension members having knots, the net area should be considered in
design. Tensile forces can apply only parallel to the grain
• Compression Members: - Generally, in the design of compression members, the
following ASD equations should be satisfied
• Short Column N
f 
c  F orF c, // c,
A
• Long column wN
fc   Fc, // orFc
A
– N = compressive force
• Note: No need of considering reduction due to holes if the holes are filled with a
material at least having the same strength as that of the main element.
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 Flexural Members
• Flexural members must be checked for extreme fibre flexural
stresses, shear stresses and deflection.
• Generally the following ASD equations should be satisfied.
i. Extreme fibre Flexural stress: f  Mc  F
b b , //
– M = bending moment I
– I= moment of inertia of the cross section
– c = distance of bottom or top extreme fibres from neutral axis.
– Fb,// = allowable bending stress parallel to the grain
ii. Shear stresses: fv 
VQ
 Fs , //
– V = shear force It
– Q = first moment about the neutral axis of the part of the cross
sectional area lying further from the neutral axis than the point where
the shear stresses are being calculated
– t= width of the member where the stresses are being calculated
– For rectangular cross sections: 3V
• b= width of the member
f v   Fs , //
2bd
• d= depth of the member

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 Cont…
iii. Deflection: - l
• General purpose beams:  
360
l
• Highway bridges:  
200
l l
• Stringer in railroad bridges:   to
200 300
• Combined Members: - Generally the following ASD equations should be satisfied:
a) Members designed to resist bi-directional bending moments:
Mx My
fb    Fb, // .....and  R   x   y
2 2
Wx Wy
b) Members designed to resist tension plus bending:
ft , // fb, //
  1.0
Ft , // Fb, //
f c, // fb, //
c) Members designed to resist compression plus bending:   1.0
Fc, // Fb, //

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 Examples
• Example 1

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