Re-Analysis of Historical Data and Model Calibration of Duration of Load Effect on Structural Timber

Abstract

The duration of load (DOL) effect in structure timber refers to the degradation of strength and stiffness that occurs under long-term continuous loading. This paper investigated the DOL effect in structure timber using DOL tests and DOL damage models. Based on the empirical-fitted formulae, the DOL coefficients were derived for three long-term sustained loads in bending, tension perpendicular to grain, and shear parallel to grain, and the results were compared and analyzed with the Madison equation, Gerhards model, Nielsen model, and Foschi and Yao model derivations to verify the applicability of the DOL empirical model and the three DOL damage models. The results show that based on the historical data of the DOL tests, the Madison empirical formula was found to be better applied to the derivation of DOL coefficients under the bending and tension perpendicular to grain long-term sustained loading, and the derivation of DOL coefficients under shear loading is not satisfactory. Among the three DOL damage models, the Foschi and Yao model was better than the Gerhards and Nielsen models for fitting the DOL test results under bending, tension perpendicular to grain, and shear parallel to grain. The DOL coefficients derived based on the Foschi and Yao model are more comparable to test results and resemble those derived from the Madison formula.