This book brings together up to date information from research and practice about the interaction between moisture changes and mechanical loading, which may lead to excessive deflections or joint movements in timber structures. It has important applications in timber engineering, and consequences for national and international structural codes of practice.

Timber is one of the oldest of man's building materials, but because the building scene today is dominated by concrete and steel, many designers are unfamiliar with the properties of timber and its structural vocabulary. This new book begins with an extended introduction to timber as a building material: its various forms and properties, its response to environmental conditions, and the Building Regulations relating to its use. It goes on to follow the general sequence of work, starting with the commission, and then dealing with the survey, the investigation and the appraisal.

Timber construction is one of the most prevalent methods of constructing buildings in North America and an increasingly significant method of construction in Europe and the rest of the world. Timber Engineering deals not only with the structural aspects of timber construction, structural components, joints and systems based on solid timber and engineered wood products, but also material behaviour and properties on a wood element level. Produced by internationally renowned experts in the field, this book represents the state of the art in research on the understanding of the material behaviour of solid wood and engineered wood products. There is no comparable compendium currently available on the topic - the subjects represented include the most recent phenomena of timber engineering and the newest development of practice-related research. Grouped into three different sections, 'Basic properties of wood-based structural elements', 'Design aspects on timber structures' and 'Joints and structural assemblies', this book focuses on key issues in the understanding of: timber as a modern engineered construction material with controlled and documented properties the background for design of structural systems based on timber and engineered wood products the background for structural design of joints in structural timber systems Furthermore, this invaluable book contains advanced teaching material for all technical schools and universities involved in timber engineering. It also provides an essential resource for timber engineering students and researchers, as well as practicing structural and civil engineers.

This paper summarizes a cooperative research program between the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), in Madison, Wisconsin, and Forintek Canada Corp. in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This research program provided detailed creep--rupture and some creep information for composite panel products. Commercially produced plywood, oriented strandboard (OSB), and minimally aligned waferboard were tested to identify nine mills (three for each product) that produced panels with a range of flexural creep performance. The three plywood, three OSB, and three waferboard products (nine products total, one from each mill) were then tested to provide information on their duration of load (DOL) and creep performance. Large panel specimens were subjected to both rampload and constant-load tests under one environmental condition. The constant-load results provided conventional or deterministic DOL factors that compared favorably with National Design Specifications recommended for adjusting lumber design strength properties under dry service conditions. Ramp-load specimen data generally indicated a lower rate of damage accumulation than did data for constant-load specimens. Creep tests at two low constant-load levels were also performed on large specimens under three environmental conditions for a 6-month period. Those results suggested that present deterministic creep factors in panel design practice might be acceptable for plywood under the influence of relatively severe conditions, for OSB in moderate conditions, and for waferboard in dry service environmental conditions.

Timber: Its Nature and Behaviour adopts a materials science approach to timber, and comprehensively examines the relationship between the performance of timber and its structure. This book explains a wide range of timbers physical and mechanical behaviour (including processing) in terms of its basic structure and its complex interaction with moisture. The performance of timber and panel products is also related to the levels set in new European specifications and with the associated methods of testing.

Structural Timber Design to Eurocode 5 provides practising engineers and specialist contractors with comprehensive, detailed information and in-depth guidance on the design of timber structures based on the common rules and rules for buildings in Eurocode 5 – Part 1-1. It will also be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of civil and structural engineering. It provides a step-by-step approach to the design of all of the commonly used timber elements and connections using solid timber, glued laminated timber or wood based structural products, and incorporates the requirements of the UK National Annex. It covers: strength and stiffness properties of timber and its reconstituted and engineered products key requirements of Eurocode 0, Eurocode 1 and Eurocode 5 – Part 1-1 design of beams and columns of solid timber, glued laminated, composite and thin-webbed sections lateral stability requirements of timber structures design of mechanical connections subjected to lateral and/or axial forces design of moment resisting rigid and semi-rigid connections racking design of multi-storey platform framed walls Featuring numerous detailed worked examples, the second edition has been thoroughly updated and includes information on the consequences of amendments and revisions to EC5 published since the first edition, and the significant additional requirements of BSI non contradictory, complimentary information document (PD 6693-1-1) relating to EC5. The new edition also includes a new section on axial stress conditions in composite sections, covering combined axial and bending stress conditions and reference to the major revisions to the design procedure for glued laminated timber.