CE 40/L Construction Materials and Testing Chapter II - TIMBER

Chapter II

TIMBER
- timber was derived from a Saxon word "timbrian" which means "to build"
- a wood of sufficient size, suitable for engineering construction

Classsifications:
standing timber - when in the living tree
rough timber - when felled
log - when the bark of the freshly cut tree is removed and hewned roughly
converted timber - when log is sawn into various market forms such as post, beams, planks
and battens

Two classes of trees

1. Phanerogams - flowering trees
a. exogens - outward growers
- used for engineering works
a.1. conifers
- yielding soft wood
- usually light colored, light in weight, resinous and weak, and show
distinct annual rings
a.2. deciduous
- yielding hard wood
- used for engineering construction
- close-grained, dark colored, strong, heavy, durable and non-resinous
b. endogens inward growers
2. Cryptogam - non-flowering trees

Structure of an Exogenous Tree

1. bark or cortex - outermost layer or skin of the trunk which covers the wood
2. cambium - a thin layer of thickened sap just beneath the bark
3. sapwood - light in weight, broad annual rings and liable to decay as this is not a matured
wood
4. annual ring - consists of innumerable closed cells of woody fibers and tissues arranged in
a distinct concentric rings or circles round the pith
5. pith, heart or medulla - the innermost part or core of the tree, represents the first formed
central portion of the stem consisting entirely of cellular tissues
6. medullary sheath - a layer of fibro-vascular bundle of the first year surrounding the pith
7. heartwood or duramen - consists of the inner annual rings round the pith, it is dark in
color, hard, strong, compact and durable
8. medullary rays or transverse septa - coposed of a series of hard flattened cells lying one
above another, verticallly in rows, rays are found in a spider like radial lines from pith to
bark binding the annual rings together.

How is timber formed?

1. during rainy season, the tree sucks the nutrients from the soil in the form of sap
2. the sap rises from the roots to flourish and nourish the branches and leaves of the tree
3. by photosynthesis, the sap from the surface of the leaves loses moisture and absorbs
carbon dioxide from air in the presence of sunlight
4. sap becomes thickened and descends in the summer from the fully grown leaves
5. the thickened sap is deposited beneath the bark forming the cambium layer
6. the cambium layer hardens with age and converted into timber

When is the time for felling a timber tree?

Nena G. Zara 4
CE 40/L Construction Materials and Testing Chapter II - TIMBER

1. Immediately after it has attained full growth to obtain maximum quantity of wood at its
most endurable state
Post-matured tree yields wood that is brittle and inelastic, decay starts in valuable
heartwood
Under matured tree yields more sapwood than heartwood
2. During mid-summer when the quantity of sap is minimum and at rest.

Wood Seasoning - is the process of removal of sap from timber

Why season wood?

1. to render timber easy to work with
2. to increase its strength
3. to make it less liable to warp, shrink, crack, twist and split

How to prepare timber for seasoning? and why?

Timber has to be cut, sawn into planks or quarters in order to give free access of air into
the pores of green timber and to hasten process of drying. It also facilitates uniform shrinkage
and drying all throughout the timber.

Different methods of wood seasoning

1. Natural or Air Seasoning
2. Water-Seasoning
3. Seasoning by Boiling in Water
4. Seasoning by Steaming
5. Hot Air-Seasoning, Desiccation or Kiln-Seasoning
6. Smoke Drying
7. Charring or Scorching
8. McNeill's Process

Wood Preservation - is the process of protecting timber from diseases, decay, worms and insects.

Requirements prior to wood preservation:

1. should be mature and well ventilated
2. timber must be thoroughly seasoned

Methods of Wood Preservation

1. Tarring
2. Painting
3. Charring
4. Creosoting
5. Varnishing and French Polishing

Important considerations in the use of wood in engineering work

1. Its mechanical properties are extremely variable, unlike steel and concrete.
2. Strength is influenced by species, locality, density, moisture content, and defects
3. All wood gain strength and stiffness when thoroughly air-dried or kiln-dried
4. Timber in construction is practically never subjected to pure tensile stresses.
5. Timber members have better elastic shock resistance than steel.
6. Timber differs from most materials in that the rate of application of load has more
pronounced effect on strength and stiffness.

Mechanical Tests for Wood

A. Static Bending

Size of specimen - 2 x 2 x 30 in ( 50 x 50 x 750 mm)

Nena G. Zara 5
CE 40/L Construction Materials and Testing Chapter II - TIMBER

3PL
Modulus of Rupture, R =
2 bd2

3P1L
Stress at Proportional Limit, Spl =
2bd2

P1L3
Modulus of Elasticity, E =
4bd3y1

where:
b - width of specimen
d - depth of specimen
L - span length
P - maximum load
P1 - load at proportional limit
y1 - center deflection at proportional limit

B. Compression Parallel to Grain

Size of Specimen - 2 x 2 x 8 in (50 x 50 x 200 mm)
P

P1
Stress at Proportional Limit, Spl =
bd

P
Maximum Crushing Strength, Smax =
bd

P1L
Modulus of Elasticity, E =
bdy1

where: b - width of specimen

d - depth of specimen
L - span length
P - maximum load
P1 - load at proportional limit
y1 - center deflection at proportional limit

Nena G. Zara 6
CE 40/L Construction Materials and Testing Chapter II - TIMBER

C. Compression Perpendicular to Grain

Size of Specimen - 2 x 2 x 6 in (50 x 50 x 150 mm)
P
bearing block

P1
Stress at Proportional Limit, Spl =
bd

D. Shear Parallel to Grain

Size of Specimen - 2 x 2 x 2 in notched
P

shearing surface

P
Smax =
Area of shearing surface

E. Hardness - is determined by measuring the load required to embed a 0.444 in (11.3 mm) steel
ball to one-half its diameter into the wood. This test is of value for comparative purposes only.
Size of Specimen - 2 x 2 x 6 in (50 x 50 x 150 mm)

F. Tension
a. tension test parallel to grain

b. tension test perpendicular to grain

Nena G. Zara 7