BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CITY OF MALOLOS, BULACAN

REPORT IN TIMBER
STRUCTURAL DESIGN

SUBMITTED BY:
GROUP NO.2:
ALMAZAN, MARK ALVIN M.
CLEMENTE, MARK ANTHONY A.
DAOS, SHAIKA T.
GONZALES, ED GEROME M.
LOBO, RONDOLF L.
ROBLES, PATRICIA ANNE P.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGR. JOYCE C. EVANGELISTA
1. THREE PRINCIPAL AXES OF WOOD (Longitudinal, Radial, Tangential)
Wood may be describe as an orthotropic material, which means that its properties (mechanical and
physical) differs in the three main axis.
ORTHOTROPIC MATERIAL - these material having properties that differ along three mutually-
orthogonal twofold axes of rotational axis.
Because of the orientation of the wood fibers, and the manner in which a tree increases in diameter as it
grows, properties may vary along three mutually axes.

Longitudinal axis is parallel to the direction of fiber or grain and parallel to growth ring.
Radial axis is perpendicular to the direction of grain and normal to the growth rings.
Tangential axis is perpendicular to the grain direction and tangent to the growth ring.

EFFECT IN WOOD PROPERTIES

Wood properties may differ in each of these three section, such as:
• STRENGTH - the design strength of the structural timber may vary along each axis, such that
we need to design the axis having the critical strength.
• MODULUS OF ELASTICITY - The three moduli of elasticity, which are denoted by EL , ER ,
and ET, respectively, are the elastic moduli along, the longitudinal, radial, and tangential axes of wood.
• MOISTURE CONTENT - Shrinkage (or swelling) occurring as wood's moisture content
changes also differs in the three directions; this is what may cause wood to warp as it either dries out
or takes on additional moisture.
Most of wood properties for structural application are given only for parallel to the grain and
perpendicular to grain.

2. TYPES OF FAILURE UNDER COMPRESSION PARALLEL TO GRAIN

a. CRUSHING – Occurs when wood experienced heavy loads that exceed its limit, the inner grains is
crushed inside and produces horizontal failure patterns.
b. BROOMING OR END-ROLLING – Occurs when the end of the wood rolls instead of splitting or
being crushed. This type of failure is usually associated with either an excess moisture content at the
ends of the wood, improper cutting wood, or both.
c. SPLITTING - known as checks, occur when wood shrinks as it dries. Wood shrinks roughly twice
as much along the growth rings as it does across the rings and it is this uneven shrinkage that causes
checks to develop. It is the ruptures in the grain of the wood which reduce the quality as measured by
appearance, strength, or utility. Splitting in woods are the separation of its structural origin. The most
common causes of failure of the timber structural systems are inadequacy of configuration in relation to
the actions, both static and dynamic loading; besides slenderness, instability, defects of the wood laid in
place, severe biotic damages, accidental factors. Actually there are major classifications of its causes,
two of them are by means of mechanical failures and biological damage. Mechanical process includes
all the intentional and unintentional operations, commonly characterized by the pressure itself applied to
the wood or timber. There were times that this failures are certainly caused by natural disasters like
typhoon affecting the timber structures and earthquakes shaking its foundation. Meanwhile, biological
damages includes decay of the wood or its decomposition over time.
FOUR ORIGIN OF SPLITTING
1. Resource Based- These are ruptures in the wood that occur in the standing tree or in the log.
They are usually the result of various factors such as site or environmental conditions, growth
stresses, or the activities of various microorganisms. The manufacturers should examine the
source of these lumber if the environment and weather do not really much affect the growth of
the trees.
2. Processing Based- are those that arise from the conversion of rough, green lumber into finished
products. The two major areas of processing based wood failures are drying related damage and
machining related damage.
3. Changing Moisture Content Based- occur due to changing moisture content can be grouped into
three classes: Environment Drier than the MC to which the Lumber Was Dried, Environment
Wetter than the MC to which the Lumber Was Dried, and Cycling Environment. Based on this
data, I concluded that the environmental moisture content is directly proportional to the moisture
content of wood
4. Use Based- these includes the mechanical damage and improper design. Mechanical damage are
covered by how we handle the timber materials during transporting, erecting, and installing. On the
other hand, the design or plan of the structure about to built has a proper and well computed every
detail, internal and external loadings should be well carried by the beams, truss and foundations.
d. WEDGE SPLIT – is a type of failure that causes the wood to split in instantaneous manner severely
requires much force. Wedge splitting is a process of splitting harder woods that are too tough for a
traditional axe. The tool used is basically a log splitting wedge or traditional wedges. Based on my
research I concluded that these type of failure is mainly intentional because there were trunks of the
trees that are really huge and need to split for construction purposes. Wedge split need much force and
effort in order for the wood to split together.

e. SHEARING – a diagonal failure of the timber from one side to another side. The term shearing can
be used when the plane rupture makes an angle more than 45 degrees with the top of the specimen.
Based on some experiments, this failure was usually started from a knot and then propagated as a
diagonal crack along the long side to break the wood in shear due to the knot at the other edge.

KNOT – “A knot is where a branch was connected to the tree. There are two different types of
knot, a live knot and a dead knot. A live knot is usually lighter in color and will generally never
 fall out. A dead knot is darker and can fall out leaving a hole which can have an effect on the
strength of timber.”

TYPES OF SHEAR FAILURE

1. VERTICAL SHEAR - Vertical shear tends to deform wood cells perpendicular to their longitudinal
axes. This type of shear in normally not considered for wood because other types of failures will occur
before failure in vertical shear.

2. Horizontal Shear - Horizontal shear produces a tendency for wood cells to separate and slide
longitudinally. It is normally the controlling type of shear for wood members.

3. ROLLING SHEAR - Rolling shear produces a tendency for the wood cells to roll over one another,
transverse to their longitudinal axes. This type of shear is normally not a consideration for solid or
laminated

f. COMBINED SHEARING AND SPLITTING – combined shearing and splitting is from the phrase
itself that shearing and splitting are happening at the same wood. This may happen when the wood dries
up and shrinks then starting to split while a vertical shear acts on the same wood causing another failure.

3. FACTORS AFFECTING WOOD

a. SPECIES
A common way of attempting to categorize the performance of different species is to class them as
either hardwoods or softwoods.
1. HARDWOOD PROPERTIES:
- Sourced from broad-leaved trees, hardwoods tend to be slower growing and are
usually denser than softwoods. As a result of their condensed and more complex structure,
hardwoods generally offer a superior level of strength and durability. Hardwoods are much more
resilient than softwoods and tend to be reserved for tasks that require maximum durability and
longevity. Often considered an investment, hardwoods are usually longer-lasting with natural
weather resistance and require less maintenance than cheaper softwood alternatives.

2. SOFTWOOD PROPERTIES:
- Softwoods derive from conifers and are more readily available, easily
manipulated and develop at a quicker pace, leading to lower cost levels. Flexible, lighter in
weight and less dense than most hardwoods, softwoods are frequently used for interior moldings,
the manufacturing of windows, construction framing and generating sheet goods such as
plywood and fiberboard. Softwoods generally have a shorter service life than hardwoods in
external applications as even after treatment they are often less durable and require more care
and maintenance over their lifespan.
b. MOISTURE CONTENT
- Moisture affects the mechanical properties when it changes below the fiber saturation point.
When moisture is reduced, strength increases due to changes in the cell walls, which become more
compact. Their structural units come closer together and the attractive forces between cellulose chain
molecules become stronger.
- The magnitude of moisture influence is different in different properties. According to studies of
this relationship, a 1 % change of moisture changes the strength in axial compression by 6 %, bending
strength 5 %, hardness 2.5 – 4 %. An exception is toughness, which is not increased with decreasing
moisture but sometimes actually decreases as the wood dries.
c. SPECIFIC GRAVITY
- The strength of clear wood is generally related to the relative weight of wood per unit volume,
or specific gravity. The higher the specific gravity, the more wood material per unit volume and the
higher the strength. In general, the specific gravity of wood is directly proportional to the amount of
late- wood.
- Specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a given volume of wood to that of an equal volume
of water. As specific gravity increases, strength properties increase (USDA 1999) because internal
stresses are distributed among more molecular material.
d. DURATION OF LOADING
- The time required to reach rupture is commonly called duration of loads
- The ability of wood to resist load is dependent upon the length of time the load is applied.
- The load required to cause failure over a long period of time is much less than the load required
to cause failure over a very short period of time.
- Wood exhibits the unique property of carrying substantially greater maxi-mum loads for short
durations than for long periods. The shorter the duration of load, the higher the ultimate strength of the
wood.
e. SIZE AND SHAPE OF THE WOOD MEMBER
- The shape and size of wood pieces are important in analyzing the influence of temperature. If
exposure is for only a short time, so that the inner parts of a large piece do not reach the temperature of
the surrounding medium, the immediate effect on strength of the inner parts will be less than that for the
outer parts.
- Generally, larger material, specifically thicker, appears to undergo less reduction in strength
than does smaller material.
REFERENCES:
Structural Design in Woods - J.J. Stalnaker & E.C. Harris, 2nd Edition
Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material, Centennial Edition
http://www.aust.edu/civil/lab_manual/ce_212.pdf
http://classes.mst.edu/civeng120/lessons/wood/failure/index.html
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/
https://www.survivethewild.net/best-wood-splitting-wedge/

http://www.aust.edu/civil/lab_manual/ce_212.pdf?fbclid=IwAR28YjxMfhj5gAHRkDMVz744kwHQeppT1AIj-
pngv-IId3PC_dmebKCFowE
https://selfbuild.ie/uncategorized/problems-with-wood/
https://is.mendelu.cz/eknihovna/opory/zobraz_cast.pl?cast=19436
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241659636_The_Chemistry_of_Wood_Strength
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bridge/pdf/insp/USFS-TimberBridgeManual/em7700_8_chapter03.pdf
http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/beg/ce265/woodhandbook_extracts.pdf