A discussion on the application of the safety index concept to wood structures

Abstract

The special characteristics of wood as an engineering material, in particular high variability in strength and load duration effects, are discussed from the point of view of limit states design formulations based on the safety index concept. It is concluded that wood structures require a treatment that differs from that used with less variable materials and that, because of load duration effects, the safety index and the usual load–resistance formulation in limit states design become dependent on the load history.