RESEARCH 1

DEVELOPMENT OF A RELIABILITY-BASED DURABILITY DESIGN METHOD

FOR TIMBER CONSTRUCTION
Agonos, Kim Nicole
Bandigan, Mary Cleo
Camposano, Rachel Ann
Castillo, Kahea Johayne

I. INTRODUCTION
Durability is one of the most important considerations in the use of wood in
construction. While many timber durability guidelines and design aids are available to
engineers and designers, the current approach to timber durability design is still very much
an art; design solutions vary from person to person and control of performance depend
almost exclusively on compliance to good building practice. This tends to inhibit innovation
and optimization of building design, and is not useful for assessing the impact of rapid
changes enforced by legislation (e.g., banning of chemicals).
If the factors affecting durability and the mechanisms of degradation, including
inherent uncertainties, are quantified, design procedures can be developed so that a product
or building can be designed to perform satisfactorily with a given level of confidence, much
like the way it is currently done in structural design. But while the technology of structural
engineering is well developed and applied with confidence in design, the technology required
for an engineering approach to durability is far behind.

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The long-term goal is to develop tools and methods to enable designers to:
1. Predict the durability of any type of timber construction located anywhere in
Australia;
2. Make informed decisions on important variables affecting timber durability and
their influence on performance;
3. Design and specify a durable system for any use or application that will achieve
its performance goals.

III. SCOPE AND LIMITION

This paper presents an overview and some preliminary results of a major
multidisciplinary timber durability research effort in Australia, focused on the development
of a reliability-based durability design method for timber construction. One factor that helps
us appreciate the complexity of this undertaking is the fact that since the inception of the
project, about 900 related references have been collected and reviewed.
The general prediction models can also be used to assess the performance of new and
innovative products and the impact of rapid changes enforced by legislation (e.g., banning of
chemicals). In conjunction with a non-destructive testing method, the models can be used to
predict the residual life of a timber element and to develop an optimized inspection and
maintenance program. Thus, the models are key components of an improved asset
management system for timber structures.

IV. DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

V. SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY
A. Procedures

Sub-program 1: Model development and calibration

Figure 1 illustrates the key steps in the development of the attack models and
the design procedure. In the case of decay, for example, we start with classical models
of moisture movement in porous media, using fundamental material parameters.
Climate, soil and other environmental data are used to identify the context of
durability performance, and as input to predicting performance. A simplified
degradation or attack model, with new material parameter inputs that can be easily
and quickly measured and with reasonable prediction capability (compared to the
fundamental model), is then developed and calibrated using all available data
including historical durability index properties, new field and laboratory data
generated in the present project (e.g., from Sub-programs 2 and 3) and, when
necessary, expert opinion. Then, the durability design procedure is developed from a
composite of all the attack models.

Sub-program 2: Environmental agents maps and databases

Detailed climate data have been collected and are being related to
microclimate within the house, and eventually to local element condition (Figs. 2 and
3). This process requires climate sub-models that relate global climate data to a
specific site, from external climate to microclimate within the house, and from
microclimate in the cavity to moisture conditions of the timber (Fig. 2). Climate data
that have been collected include rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, wind,
evaporation, cloud cover and various components of solar radiation. Microclimate
data being monitored in cavities of selected houses in locations with tropical,
subtropical and temperate climates are temperature and relative humidity (Fig. 3);
also being monitored are Simplified Degradation/Attack Model Engineering
Procedures Fundamental Equations Climate Data Other Environmental Data Use
fundamental parameters of materials. Conditions that are conducive to degradation
(initiation and/or acceleration) are being investigated.

Based

on

seven

years

of

Australian data on exposed L-joint

specimens and the mean monthly
temperature and rainfall in Australia, an
above ground decay hazard map for
Australia has been plotted (Fig. 4a)
using the Scheffers index. Knowing
that faster evaporation in the Australian
climate allows wetted timber to dry out
faster than in the northern hemisphere
(where the Scheffers index was originally derived), a new decay index, referred to as
the DPI index, has been derived as a function of percentage of wet days and the
average vapour pressure deficit (M. Cause, private communication). This index fits
the updated nine-year L-joint data better than the Scheffers index did. The
differences are seen in comparing Figs. 4a and 4b; the DPI index provides a more
refined and appropriate above ground decay hazard map for Australia. Further
refinements in the calculation of the above ground durability hazard are being
investigated.

The termite hazard map will be based on a combination of results of a public

survey and prediction using the attack model. The first stage of a national survey
has been completed and the second stage is on-going at the time of this writing.
Metal corrosion is a combination of atmospheric corrosion on exposed steel and
cathodic corrosion on the embedded steel. For the case of atmospheric corrosion,
critical attack parameters are the effective time of wetness and concentration of air
pollutants, particularly sea-salt. Based on analysis of available exposure test data
and modeling results, Fig. 5 shows the estimated corrosion of a metal plate of mild
steel containing copper.

Sub-program 3: Material resistance and test protocols

Part of this sub-program is focused on developing standardised durability
assessment methods for materials, including the suitability of accelerated field
simulation laboratory techniques to determine resistance to termites, fungi and
corrosion. Another focus is the determination of durability rating resistance of
common timber products for prescriptive design guidelines and of degradation rates
of treated and untreated timber for prediction models. The latter is based on both new
field data and previously collected data originally intended to obtain durability index
properties.
A considerable amount of material resistance evaluation is in progress, with
decay and termites, both in-ground and above ground, for both treated and untreated
wood. There are also above ground wood panel exposure tests and corrosion tests
with both nails and metal plates

B. Statistical Tools

The key to developing a design procedure is first to have predictive models for
durability. Figure 6 illustrates the way the models and design procedure will be used. A set of
input parameters is used to define the design situation, a particular hazard type is selected,
and a calculation model is used to predict the performance of the element or building system.

Typical input parameters are those that relate to the hazard, building location,
building construction, building element and maintenance programs (or user action).
Performance criteria will be classified as either structural collapse, unserviceability (such as
excessive deflections, water entry or loss of material) or aesthetic deterioration. The hazards
considered include attack by:

Fungi

Termites

Corrosion agents

Mechanical degradation
Since there are uncertainties in the data, models and analysis methods, it is natural to

apply probabilistic techniques and recognize and incorporate these uncertainties in the model
development process. Each attack model is assumed to comprise a sequence of events as
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shown in Fig. 7. The duration of each event is a random variable. This leads to a prediction in
statistical terms as shown in Fig. 8.

VI. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

This project provides a framework and method of using fundamental degradation
models, and climate and relevant environmental factors to develop general durability
prediction models and formal design procedures for timber construction.
Research to date indicates that the development of formal durability design
procedures, based on prediction models, is not only feasible but is a better and more flexible
approach to ensure durable timber construction. The existence of formal timber durability
design procedures, similar in concept to structural design, will facilitate the teaching and
globalization of the technology, and hopefully lead to the day when failures related to

durability will be regarded as failures of applied technology, and not taken to be an unknown
risk associated with the use of timber.

V. RECOMMENDATION OF THE READER

Much research is needed to better understand fundamental degradation mechanisms
of timber in-service, improve the attack models and provide more reliable data to validate
and calibrate the prediction models.

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