WHAT ONE NEEDS TO KNOW FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF TIMBER

STRUCTURES

Helena Cruz, José Saporiti Machado, Pedro Palma.

Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), Lisboa, Portugal

ABSTRACT

The assessment of old timber structures is normally a great source of problems for
building interventors and a frequent justification for integral replacement of structures
that would otherwise be kept in service.

It requires understanding the original structural system behaviour, the estimation of

strength and stiffness properties of the timber in use, the evaluation of individual timber
members’ quality and effective cross section dimensions. Due to the natural variability
of timber, unknown load and environment history, and common biological damage,
assumptions have to be made, frequently with a high degree of uncertainty.

This paper discusses the common approach in the assessment of timber structures in
service and tries to identify advances, problems, knowledge gaps and research needs
related to this activity.

1. INTRODUCTION

Repair, strengthening and upgrading of old buildings are and will represent in the
future a large share of building contractors activity, as the urge for new construction is
diminishing due to population stabilization in most developed countries, and the
economical benefits, historical or environmental concerns justify the maintenance, as
opposed to replacement, of existing structures.

Nevertheless, civil engineering and architectural teaching has been mainly directed
towards new construction, thus ignoring the old materials and construction techniques.
This is now changing, especially at the level of post-graduate studies or optional
courses, but even so the time dedicated to timber structures is in most cases negligible.

At the same time, professional carpenters, in the traditional sense of long-gained

practical experience and father-to-son transmitted knowledge, no longer exist. Often,
so-called carpenters do not really understand the material, and frequently base their
activity on erroneous principles applied with a frightening sense of self-confidence.

This scenario compromises the conservation of old timber structures where specific
expertise and knowledge are essential for obtaining data on timber members and joints
mechanical behaviour, which is directly linked with wood species used and structural
system under evaluation.
Assessment of timber structures may be carried out under various circumstances. The
easiest case includes the retrofitting of well preserved structure to its original condition,
which can be handled with minor replacements or strengthening. In this case it is
assumed that the number of years in service is a prove of its safety. However, in most
cases, either due to conservation problems or change of use, judgement about material
strength and damage quantification is required.

In the last situation, the lack of expertise on wood as a structural material often leads to
replacement of suitable timber structures, by steel or concrete structures more adjusted
to current engineer knowledge. One should say however that, despite the difficulties,
there have also been numerous interventions where timber structures receive careful
inspection and suitable consideration.

Several steps should be tackled before a final answer can be given about the safety of an
existing timber structure. Inspection is a basic and crucial step upon which other steps
and decisions rely. The purpose of this paper is to identify common methods, problems,
knowledge gaps and research needs related to inspection of timber structures.

2. OVERALL STRUCTURAL SYSTEM EVALUATION

The original structural system behaviour, although sometimes complex and difficult to
understand, can in most cases be handled by structural engineers.

One should have present that ancient timber structures are not always structurally
sound, even disregarding possible degradation. Some exhibit an enormous degree of
improvisation, some have basic conceptual/structural errors, some were poorly made
and others have been altered disrespecting safety considerations.

Common problems in roof structures are erroneous geometry, eccentric loading at the
truss supports and due to rafters placed away from the truss nodes, lack of bracing
between trusses and missing elements due to previous interventions. In the case of floor
systems, insufficient support length at the beam ends, lack or sloppy bracing between
beams, removal of support walls and introduction of intermediate loading partitions are
quite common.

Joints frequently have some kind of damage (metal corrosion, sloppiness, timber
splitting or crushing) and original defects like missing plates or fasteners, minute edge
and end distances of fasteners, too small washers, gaps between elements that should be
in contact. The engineer should carefully inspect the joints, be able to understand them,
identify failure or other dangerous situations like the consequences in the internal forces
distribution of a failure in a joint, and propose remedial measures.

Structural defects must receive due consideration and the interventors must be aware of
the need to guarantee suitable safety levels (sometimes by restraining the use of the
structure to less demanding activities) despite the historical or architectural interest of
the building.
3. ESTIMATION OF TIMBER BASIC PROPERTIES

Estimation of timber properties begins with the identification of wood species. This task
although highly specialized, can be easily performed, especially when historical
information is available (date of construction, region and wood species normally used in
that period and region) thus the wood anatomist only has to confirm the species from a
limited range of suspected species.

After wood species identification, the tricky task of allocating characteristic values
(strength, stiffness) to the different timber structural members should be performed. In
general three different types of approach are adopted by contractors. These are
discussed below.

Sampling

Building contractors are often tempted with sampling and testing timber from the
structure, copying the approach followed for other construction materials. Their
sampling may involve one or two structural members that for some reason are to be
replaced; or involve a small amount of wood taken from different locations within the
structure: either to check clear wood properties, or state of conservation, as an attempt
to evaluate its effects in strength.

Due to the natural variability of timber, such sampling can’t be considered

representative. To account for variability, the determination of characteristic values for
the mechanical properties of timber is generally based in several samples of 40 timber
pieces each, of structural dimensions from a certain timber grade (exhibiting
representative defects and features of that grade). This is obviously not feasible within
the assessment of existing structures, but explains why strength values obtained by
sampling from the structure can hardly be used with confidence. Besides, sampling of
clear wood disregards the major influence of defects like knots, slope of grain or
fissures, and the effect of local biological damage, which may vary considerably within
the structure.

Sampling is however very useful to provide information on species, moisture content

and density. It can also be used to check if strength values of clear wood fall within the
expected range or to restrain the quality of wood in a certain visual strength grade; but
in order to do that the collected information shall be used in conjunction with methods
specially developed to derive strength values appropriate for design.

Load tests

Load tests may be performed on the whole structure or parts of it (individual floor
beams, for instance). Loading is applied to the structure by using hydraulic jacks or,
more commonly, dead loads like water tanks or cement bags. The measured deflection
of the structure under load is compared to the predictions of a structural model
(generally a finite element modelling), and the estimated mechanical properties of the
elements and joints (especially stiffness) necessary for the model are adjusted/calibrated
to match the measured deflections.
These provide an estimation of elastic modulus (MoE) of timber, which alongside with
density serves to derive strength values. Bending strength (MoR) and compressive
strength are derived from existing correlations of these with MoE+density for that
specific species. The other properties are generally derived from more general
correlations between different properties.

Load tests may also consist of vibration tests. In this case, an instantaneous load (hit) is
applied to the structure and the resulting motion is measured by accelerometers. The
vibration frequencies are a function of geometry, support conditions and material
properties, namely the elastic modulus. This enables an estimation of the MoE, which is
subsequently used to derive the other mechanical properties.

Both techniques are expensive and time consuming and the interpretation of results
depends on how accurately the support conditions and the influence of load-sharing
elements can be understood and modelled. Results are known to be affected by moisture
content, therefore local variations of moisture content may be another source of errors.

Moreover, results depend on how good the correlations between different properties are.
It may happen that for the specific sample of timber used in a particular structure, the
actual correlation deviates from the average correlation established for that species.
Furthermore, for some species such correlations were never determined. It should also
be stressed that the whole approach assumes that the correlations between different
strength properties obtained for new timber of a given species also apply for old timber,
even if it has suffered unknown load and environment history. Studies conducted so far
on mechanical performance of structural members removed from old constructions do
not seem to support the idea that age on its own is a factor that should be considered.

The grading approach

This can be considered the most currently followed approach. It involves the
identification of the wood species and a general evaluation of timber members’ quality
(density, defects).

In this process ideally the evaluation of timber quality should be reported to an existing
stress grading standard (used to industrially grade timber for structural uses), for which
strength values can be allocated. Stress grading procedures check if the defects
(specially knots, slope of grain, fissures and density) of individual members are within
the limits established for a certain grade.

This evaluation allows the allocation of an average grade to all members. After a first
structural analysis, a more refined grading can be carried out on those members which
importance in the structure and/or high stress level justify extra attention.

The grading approach naturally requires an extensive survey of the structure, both costly
and time consuming. It also assumes that the strength values allocated to new timber of
a certain species and grade also apply to old used timber.

The influence of moisture content cyclic variations in the strength and stiffness of
timber has been extensively studied and most results indicate that these have a negative
effect. Also load history previously applied to timber is known to reduce strength and
stiffness, highly depending on the stress levels attained and the environmental
conditions. Other studies suggest that time itself enhanced some of the timber
properties, although we lack precise information about the properties of that same
timber when it was new.

Survey of timber structures have to deal with the large range of wood species used for
construction, natural variability of timber (combination of wood species, growth region,
physical properties and defects) and unknown load and environment history which
brings a high degree of uncertainty on the assumptions taken from inspection.

5. BIOLOGICAL DAMAGE AND ESTIMATION OF CROSS SECTIONS

Cross section dimensions are in principle easy to assess, although in the case of
irregular round elements this may require some simplification.

If biological degradation of timber is identified its overall and local effects on strength
and stiffness of members and joints must be judged. This is normally a great source of
problems for building interventors and a frequent justification for integral replacement
of structures that would otherwise be kept in service.

In the case of fungal attack, the actual strength loss varies with wood species, specific
fungus, time and environmental conditions. The affected volume may be assessed by
non-destructive methods. Models to predict strength and stiffness reduction have been
tried, but the allocation of equivalent values for the affected section in a practical
situation involves a high degree of uncertainty.

Consequently, it is common to assume in practice a negligible contribution of those

cross sections seriously affected by decay and to completely or partially replace those
members or strengthen them as if they were already lost. In those cases where decay is
incipient and it seems to affect just the surface of a member, that member may be kept
in place if it is clearly overdesigned by report to calculated stresses.

Timber affected by insects is a totally different matter, as the decrease of timber

members’ properties result from a reduction of material in the cross section (rather than
from a chemical modification of the wood cells).

When attacked by beetles, it is common that only a surface layer of sapwood is

destroyed. The depth of the attacked layer may be assessed with the help of a simple
knife or screw-driver or by other non-destructive techniques.
A reduced cross section may then be estimated. Alike the procedure followed for timber
quality, safety checking may be carried out by assuming the same cross section
reduction for all members in the structure, followed by a more detailed assessment and
refined verification for specific members of higher importance or higher calculated
stress levels. This procedure may however be too conservative, since even the damaged
layer is likely to contribute to the load carrying capacity of that cross section.

Although less frequent, insect attack may instead take the form of a diffuse damage
throughout most of the cross section. This has been observed in softwood members with
a small percentage of heartwood. Considering a reduced cross section is meaningless in
this case. Alternatively, a reduced quality due to a reduced apparent density may be
assumed for such cases.

However, both approaches regarding insect damage involve a high degree of

uncertainty since the real influence of insect attack in the strength and stiffness of
timber members has yet to be clarified.

6. CONCLUSIONS

The lack of proper methods to evaluate the strength of timber members on-site is a
strong drawback shown by timber structures, as compared to concrete or steel
structures.

The assessment of old timber structures requires specific expertise and knowledge,
given the need to quantify individual timber members and joints mechanical properties
and effective strength. Regarding the timber members assessment, possible approaches
basically include load tests and grading approach

Load tests rely on existing correlations between the timber strength and stiffness in
structural dimensions. Such correlations only exist for a few species. Even then, one has
to assume that the same correlation found for new timber also applies for timber that
grew in different conditions and that was subjected to unknown loading and
environment through its service life.

In the above “direct evaluation” of individual timber elements strength and stiffness,
one assumes that the correlation between species + origin + (quality) grade and
strength properties established for new timber also applies to old aged timber.
However, this is yet to be confirmed. Besides, grading operations may be difficult in
practice when there is no visual access to the ends and some faces of the timber, or
when it is dusty or stained. Grading randomly chosen members may be an alternative in
these situations but it introduces even another source of uncertainty.

The estimation of the effective cross section dimensions represents a huge problem.
Options like assuming a nil contribution of decayed cross sections, or a reduced cross
section in the case of beetles surface layer attack have been widely used in practice but
may be too conservative.

Although a number of approaches may nowadays be used to assess old timber

structures, they involve steps that still require scientific validation. Wood Science
should help to reduce the present degree of uncertainty associated to some necessary
assumptions, thus improving safety while avoiding too conservative evaluations that
may obstacle the maintenance of still safe structures.