CHAPTER 8
INTRODUCTION TO TIMBER
STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION
• Wood is a natural resource that is widely available throughout the world
• Timber is an organic material produced from naturally growing trees.
• 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, scaffoldings, formworks, etc.
Application of Timber
• For building construction
Application of Timber
• For bridge construction
Application of Timber
• Timber for power transmission
Application of Timber
• Timber for truss construction
Application of Timber
• Timber as scaffolding
Application of Timber
• Timber as a formwork
Advantages and Disadvantages of Timber
• Advantages
i. Fast, efficient and cost effective
ii. Timber is available in many countries
iii. Flexible to add further extensions
iv. Environmentally friendly
v. Hand crafted
vi. It has nearly same properties in compression, tension, and flexure and has high
Elasticity
vii. Good resistant against chemicals
viii. Nearly no length change in response to temperature variation
ix. Building with an organic, natural, earthly charm
x. Nearly no electric conductivity
Advantages and Disadvantages of Timber
• Disadvantages
i. Organic in nature which affects its quality
ii. No apparent control over its quality ( other materials are man made and
therefore same form of quality control at their production)
iii. Strength is affected by moisture
iv. Timber changes its volume or/and shape depending on its moisture content
v. It is inflammable
Comparison with Steel
• Timber as a structural material is similar to steel and both materials are
available in similar shapes and even jointing of timber or steel
members, respectively is comparable
Steel Timber
Hollow section poles
Bars, angles Sawn timber
I beam I beam
sheets panels
welding gluing
isotropic An isotropic
Manufactured Grown
Uniform Variable heterogeneous
Affected by temperature Affected by moisture
Comparison with Steel
• Timber members are particularly capable of acting as tension, compression and
bending members.
• Compared to steel and concrete the modulus of elasticity is low.
• The texture and appearance of timber makes it very suitable for use in visually
exposed structures.
• Shrinkage and swelling have to be considered during the design life of timber
structures.
• The combination of steel and timber often produces light and competitive
structures with timber as compression and steel as tension members.
Properties of Timber
i. Grain (fiber) nature
Grains are not always parallel to the longitudinal direction of the timber pieces.
The angle between the grain and the direction of the application of the load
influences the strength on a much wider scale.
ii. Density and Moisture Content
Generally, Strength increases with density and decreases with rising moisture
content and hence correction to permissible stress is required.
iii. Temperature
Its effect on strength is not considered in the design of timber structures.
iv. Defects
Knots should be considered in the design of timber as they affect the capacity.
Properties of Timber
v. Duration of loading
It is an important factor in the design of timber structures.
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)
Allowable/permissible stresses
• Permissible stresses are obtained from large number of tests.
• Those are given in specifications.
• For a particular design the allowable stresses need corrections by the appropriate
adjustment (modification factor)
• Design allowable stresses are determined by multiplying the tabulated stresses by
appropriate adjustment factor.
Where
Allowable/permissible stresses
• Adjustment factors
i. Moisture content factor
ii. Load duration factor,
iii. Load correction factors/combination
Design of Members
• The various design concepts and detailing procedures for timber are
similar to those involved in steel structures
Tension Members
a) Tension parallel to the grain
The following equation should be satisfied
, is the design tensile stress along the grain
, is the design tensile strength along the grain
b) Tension perpendicular to the grain
The effect of member size shall be taken into account
Design of Members
Compression members
a) Compression parallel to the grain
The following expression should be satisfied
Where
, is the design compressive stress along the grain
, is the design compressive strength along the grain
b) Compression perpendicular to the grain
The following expression should be satisfied
Where, , is the design compressive stress in the effective contact area
perpendicular to the grain
,is the design compressive load perpendicular to the grain
, is a factor taking into account the load configuration, possibility of
splitting and degree of compressive deformation
Design of Members
• The effective contact areato the grain, , should be determined taking into account
an effective contact length parallel to the grain, where the actual contact length, l,
at each side is increased by 30mm, but not more than a, l or l/2
• The value of taken as 1.0 unless use the following
• For members on continuous supports, provided that the value of should be taken
as;
• =1.25 for solid softwood timber
• =1.5 for glued laminated softwood timber
• Where h is the depth of the member
l is the contact length
Design of Members
• For members on discrete supports, provided that value of should be taken as
• =1.5 for solid softwood timber
• =1.75 for glued laminated softwood timber provided that
Design of Members
Flexural/bending design
• The following expressions shall be satisfied
Where, and are the design bending stresses about the principal axes shown in
figure
and are the corresponding strengths
, allowance for re-distribution of stresses and the effect of inhomogeneities of the
material in a cross section and the can be taken as follows:
For laminated veneer lumber (LVL), solid timber and glued laminated timber
⁃ for rectangular sections: =0,7
⁃ for other cross-sections: =1,0
For other wood-based structural products, for all cross-sections: =1,0
Design of Members
Shear design
• For shear with a stress component parallel to the grain, as well as for shear with both
stress components perpendicular to the grain, the following expression shall be
satisfied:
• Where is the design shear stress
• is the design shear strength for the actual condition
For the verification of shear resistance of members in bending, the influence of cracks
should be taken into account using an effective width of the member given as:
where b is the width of the relevant section of the member
=0.67 for solid timber
=0.67, for glued laminated timber
=1.0, for other wood-based products
Design of Members
Torsion design
• The following expression shall be satisfied
where: is the design torsional stress;
is the design shear strength;
is a factor depending on the shape of the cross-section;
h is the larger cross-sectional dimension;
b is the smaller cross-sectional dimension
Design of Members
Compression stresses at an angle to the grain
• The compressive stresses at an angle α to the grain should satisfy the following
expression:
where is is the compressive stress at an angle α to the grain
is a factor given previous slide taking into account the effect of any of stresses
perpendicular to the grain.
Design of Members
Combined bending and axial tension
• The following expressions shall be satisfied
Combined bending and axial compression
• The following expressions shall be satisfied
Stability due to buckling reading assignment
Thank you for your attention
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