ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the mechanical behavior of Ozigo wood beams subjected to long-term creep in three environments (air-conditioned inside a building, outside unsheltered and outside sheltered). The purpose is to develop a database that will be useful to evaluate the influence of spatial variability of mechanical parameters/properties on the reliability of beams with or without cracks. To this aim, three points bending tests were performed on 81 specimens at laboratory scale. The results obtained show a significant spatial variability for specimens belonging to the same beam. It was also found that the mean modulus of elasticity (MOE) and the failure stress (FS) of the air-conditioned beam are greater than the same parameters measured at unsheltered and sheltered environments. The obtained database will be very useful in the short-term for further studies focusing on the characterization of uncertainties and spatial variability of mechanical properties. In the long-term, spatial variability and uncertainties will be propagated into finite element models to improve the reliability assessment of timber components.