TIMBER DESIGN

The particular type of tree from which wood comes is

called species. The two groups of trees used for building
purposes are the softwoods and hardwoods. Softwoods like
the pines and spruce are coniferous, or cone bearing,
where as hardwoods have broad leaves exemplified by the
oaks and maples. The terms softwood and hardwood are
not accurate indications of the degree of hardness of the
various species of trees. Certain softwoods are as hard as
the medium-density hardwoods, whereas some of
hardwoods have softer wood than some of the softwoods.
 Quick growth rate; tress can be felled after 30 years,
resulting in low density timber with relatively low strength.
 Generally poor durability qualities, unless treated with
preservatives.
 Due to speed of felling, they are readily available and
comparatively cheap.
 Hardwoods grow at a slower rate than softwoods. This
generally results in a timber of high density and strength
which takes time to mature over 100 years in some
instances.
 There is less dependency on preservatives for durability
qualities.
 Due to time taken to mature and the transportation costs of
hardwoods, as most are tropical, they tend to be expensive
in comparison to softwoods.
 Process of removing moisture from green wood.
 Exposing lumber to air for an extended period or heating it
in kilns
 Seasoned woods are stiffer, stronger and more durable than
green wood.
1.Timber is dominantly considered as the wood that is still
attached to the ground whereas lumber is no longer
standing on the ground.
2.Timber is widely accepted as the wood with its bark still
on whereas lumber no longer has the wooden bark.
3.Timber is the word used to refer to wooden boards in the
U.K. and Australia while lumber is the wooden board for the
American and Canadian denomination.
4.Lumber is the finished wood product that is often made
commercially available especially in construction whereas
timber still has to be cut and processed for it to be sold for
construction purposes.
5.Timber is an older term compared to lumber, which was
coined more recently.
The difference in arrangement and size of the cell cavities and the
thickness of the cell walls determine the specific gravity of various
species of wood. The strength of wood is closely related to its
density. The term closed grained refers to wood with narrow,
closely spaced annual rings. The weight of wood substance of all
species is about 1.53 times the weight of water, but the wood cells
contain air in varying degrees; hence the weights of species vary
not only because of their density but also because of the moisture
content.
The mechanical properties of wood are its fitness and ability to resist
applied external forces such as:
1. Stiffness and elasticity
2. Tensile strength
3. Compressive or crushing strength
4. Shearing strength
5. Bending strength
6. Toughness
7. Hardness
8. Cleavability
9. resilience
 The property by means of which a body acted upon by
external forces tends to retain its natural size and shape, or
resists deformation.
 Thus the material that is difficult to bend or otherwise
deform is stiff; one that is easily bent or otherwise
deformed is flexible. Flexibility is not the exact counterpart
of stiffness, as it also involves toughness pliability.
 The tensile strength of wood parallel to the grain depends
upon the strength of the fibers and is affected not only by
the nature and dimensions of the wood elements but also
by their arrangement.
 Is very closely related to hardness and transverse shear.
 There are two ways in which wood is subjected to stress of
this kind, namely
a. with the load acting over the entire area of the
specimen
b. with a load concentrated over a portion of the area.
 Whenever forces act upon a body in such a way the one
potion tends to slide upon another adjacent to it the action
is called a shear. In wood this shearing action may be
a. along the grain
b. across the grain
 When external forces acting in the same plane are applied
at right angles to the axis of a bar so as to cause it to bend,
they occasion a shortening of the longitudinal fibers on the
concave side and an elongation of those on the convex side.
1. Simple tension, in which there is a direct pulling in two of
the wood on the underside of the beam due to a tensile
stress parallel to the grain
2. Cross-grained tension, in which the fracture is caused by a
tensile force acting oblique to the grain . This is common
form of failure where the beam has diagonal, spiral or other
form of cross grain on its lower side.
3. Splintering tension, in which the failure consists of a
considerable number of slight tension failures, producing a
ragged or splintery break on the under surface of the beam.
This is common in tough woods.
4. Brittle tension, in which the beam fails by a clean break
extending entirely through it. It is characteristic of a brittle
wood which gives way suddenly without warning, like a
piece of chalk.
5. Compression failure has few variations except that it
appears at various distances from the neutral plane of the
beam. The compressive stress parallel to the fibers causes
them to buckle or bend as in an endwise compressive test.
6.Horizontal shear failure, in which the upper and lower
portions of the beam slide along each other for a portion of
their length either at one or at both ends is fairly common in
air-dry material when the ratio of the height of the beam to
the span is relatively large.
1. Heart Shakes - are caused due to shrinkage of interior parts due to age.
2. Star Shakes – These occurs due to severe frost or scorching heat of the sun.
3. Cup Shakes – these are caused due to the unequal growth of the timber.
4. Radial Shakes – These are similar to the star shakes and occur in felled
timber when exposed to the sun during seasoning.
5. Rind Galls – These are typical enlarged swelling and occur due to branches
cut – off.
6. Wind Cracks – These are shakes or splits on the sides of a bark of timber due
to shrinkage of exterior surface exposed to atmospherics influence.
7. Knots – These are the roots of the small branches of the tree. These are not
harmful.
8. Dead Wood – It is deficient in strength and weight and is the result of trees
being felled after maturity.
 Natural
 Chemical
 Conversion
 Seasoning
- Occur during the growing period
Cracks and fissures. They may occur in various parts of
the tress and may even indicate the presence of decay or the
beginnings of decay.

Knots. These are common features of the structures of

wood. A knot is a portion of a branch embedded by the
natural growth of the tree, normally originating at the center
of the trunk or a branch.
 Grain Defects. Wood grain refers to the general direction
of the arrangement of fibers in wood. Grain defects can occur
in the form of twisted-grain, cross-grain, flat-grain and spiral-
grain, all of which can induce subsequent problems of
distortion in use.

Fungal decay. This may occur in growing mature timber

or even in recently converted timber, and in general it is a
good practice to reject such timber.

Annual ring width. This can be a critical in respect of

strength in that excess width of such rings can reduce the
density of the timber
 These may occur in particular instances when is used
in unsuitable positions or in association with other materials.
Timbers such as oak and western red cedar contain tannic
acid and other chemicals which corroded metals. Gums and
resins can inhibit the working properties of timber and
interfere with the ability to take adhesives.
 These are due basically to unsound practice in the use
of milling techniques or to undue economy in attempting to
use every possible piece of timber converted from the trunk.
A wane is a good example of conversion defect.
 Seasoning defects are directly related to the
movement that occurs in timber due to changes I moisture
content. Excessive or uneven drying, exposure to wind and
rain, and poor stacking and spacing during seasoning can
all produce defects or distortions in timber.
The four principal classifications are dimension, beams and
stringers, posts and timbers, and decking.
Dimension. This consists of rectangular cross sections with
nominal dimensions, 2 in. to 4 in. thick and 2 in. or more wide.
Beams and Stringers. Rectangular cross sections 5 in. or more
thick and a width more than 2 in. greater than the thickness are
graded for strength in bending when loaded on the narrow face.
Post and Timbers. Square or nearly square cross sections with
nominal dimensions 5 in. by 5 in. and larger are graded primarily
for use as post or columns but adapted to other uses where
bending strength is not especially important.
Decking. This consists of lumber 2 in. to 4 in. thick, 6 in. and
wider, with tongue and groove edges or grooved for spline on
the narrow face. Decking is graded for use with the face placed
flatwise in contact with supporting members.

There is some confusion in the terms used to refer to the

dimensions of rectangular cross section of wood. In the use
classifications just prescribed the thickness is used for the
smaller dimension and width is used for the larger dimension.
However when referring to beam sections, it is common to use
width for the horizontal dimension ( usually the smaller
dimension) and depth for the vertical dimension ( usually the
larger dimension).
An individual piece of structural lumber is designated by its
nominal cross-sectional dimensions. As an example, we
speak of a 6 x 12” (written 6x12), by which we mean a timber
with a width of 6 in. and a depth of 12 in.; the length is
variable. However, after being dressed or surfaced on four
sides (S4S) the actual dimensions of this piece are 51/2 in x
111/2 in.
Lumber is sold on the basis of the contents of the nominal
size expressed in terms of board feet. A board foot is the
content of volume 12 x 12 x 1in.
Grading is necessary to identify the quality of lumber.
Structural grades are established in relation to strength
properties and use classification so that allowable stresses
for design can be assigned.