A Long-time Strength Degradation Model for Timber Members Under Varying Hygrothermal Environments
WANG Xue-liang
QU Wei-lian
Abstract：Long-term hygrothermal effects on the mechanical properties of a timber member have been investigated. A cumulative damage model was used where the hygrothermal varia-tions were regarded as an external load upon the structural lumber of a mine liner. Both daily and annual hygrothermal changes were considered in the cumulative-damage numerical model. Long-time degradation in strength was obtained by integrating the numerical model. The re-sults show that long-term cumulative damage maintains the exponential form of the Gerhards model. The numerical model provides a sound analysis. The strength of a timber under long-term loading is given by the strength degeneracy model The residual service life of an historic timber structure may be easily predicted with the resistance theory. The feasibility and reliabil-ity of the proposed approach are verified.
Keywords：hygrothermal effecttimber memberload-durationlong-time cumulative damage modelservice life prediction
Publication Date：2009-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 634-639 )