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Visual grading standards covering large growth areas: comparison and accuracy.
P.Stapel1, J.W.G. van de Kuilen1,2
Winzererstr. 45, 80797 München, Germany
2
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft, Building 23, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft / 2600 GA Delft
Context
The major part of structural timber on the European market is graded visually. While for machine
graded timber European standards exist and are commonly used (EN 14081 ‐ 2 & EN 14081 ‐ 3),
visual grading is done mainly based on national standards. These national standards are usually
customized to optimise the grading results for the timber resources of the country which publishes
the grading rules, taking into account growth conditions, local preferences for certain cross‐sections
and silvicultural differences. Hence, national grading rules are assessing knot size, growth ring width
and/or local slope of grain differently. At the same time, timber that needs to be graded is being
shipped around the world and a tendency can be observed that national grading rules are applied on
timber from different origins. A number of standards already allow timber from very large growth
areas to be graded, raising questions about the declared (characteristic) mechanical properties. In
this study, strength grading rules (DIN 4074, INSTA 142, NF B 52‐001‐1, BS 4978, SIA 265 and ECE) are
analysed and their applicability on timber from different origins is verified. Differences in strength,
modulus of elasticity and density are checked for the graded material.
This investigation is relevant for current discussions related to EN 1912. This standard links visual
strength grades to strength classes according to EN 338. Many of these assignments have been
carried out decades ago, and as some standards have the growth area defined as: “Central, North &
Eastern Europe”, it is questionable if the available data at the time of assignment was sufficient.
Literature
There are only a few publications focusing on the comparison of national grading rules. Johansson et
al (1992) compared INSTA, DIN and ECE rules. Spruce timber from Germany and Sweden was graded
and tested in bending (255 pcs) and tension (245 pcs). Compared to the declared characteristic
strength values, the strength values obtained in the research were rather high. T3 (INSTA 142)
reached a 5%‐characteristic bending strength of 38.5 Mpa as compared to the declared value of 30
Mpa and S13 (DIN 4074) reaches 36.9 Mpa also against a declared value of 30 MPa. Also all lower
grades showed significant higher characteristic values than declared. The results were not analysed
separately for the different origins. Small scale comparisons for a limited number of specimens were
carried out by Almazán et al (2008) for German pine graded by DIN 4074 and UNE 56544 or by
Riberholt (2008) for European spruce graded according to Chinese visual rules. Visual grading is
addressed in several available CIB‐papers (p.e. 4‐5‐1, 16‐5‐1, 16‐5‐2), however none of them focused
on the comparison between different visual grading rules and the strength class assignment
according to EN 1912.
Summary
The paper analyses the effect of different grading rules on the grading results. Figure 1 compares the
bending strength to important grading parameters for DIN 4074 and BS 4978. Although the
correlation between the grading parameter and the bending strength are equal in both cases, it is
obvious that the grading output is quite different. Table 1 gives the associated numbers in detail: 64
pieces which would be rejected according to DIN 4074 are assigned to the highest possible BS 4978
grade SS (C24). Or, 175 pieces are rejected according to BS 4978 and may be classified to DIN 4074 as
Grade S10 (C24). As both standards may be applied to timber from the same origin, this creates
confusion by graders who have to grade according to multiple standards and raises questions about
the safety.
Figure 1: Two grading parameters against the bending strength.
Table 1: Influence of the grading rule on the graded material.
visual grade BS 4978
SS GS reject Total
S13 1,358 19 6 1,383
S10 1,845 318 175 2,338
visual grade
S7 586 379 358 1,323
DIN 4074
reject 64 111 210 385
Total 3,853 827 749 5,429
About 5500 European softwoods from Sweden,
Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg
and Poland have been tested in edgewise bending and
classified according to six different strength grading
rules. Figure 2 exemplary shows the influence of the
origin on the bending strength for C24 graded according
to the German standard. The characteristic strength
value ranges between 20.5 and 28.0 MPa. The results
Figure 2: Cumulative frequency distribution
will be additionally analysed depending on the origin of of the bending strength focusing on 5th
the timber and the applied grading rule. percentile values for different origins.
References
Johansson CJ, Brundin J, Gruber R (1992): Stress grading of Swedish and German Timber. A comparison of machine stress grading and three
visual grading systems. Swedish National Testing and Research Institute. Building Technology. SP Report 23:94.
Almazán AFJ, Prieto HE, Martitegui AF, Richter C (2008): Comparison of the Spanish visual strength grading standard for structural sawn
timber (UNE 56544) with the German one (DIN4074) for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from Germany. Holz Roh Werkst (2008) 66: 253–
258.
Riberholt H (2008): European spruce ‐ Picea abies ‐ graded by Chinese visual rules. Technical University of Denmark, Department of Civil
Engineering. BYG Rapport (ISBN: 978‐8‐77877‐25‐72).
ECE Timber Committee (1975) Draft proposal for an international standard for stress grading coniferous sawn softwood. CIB‐Paper 4‐5‐1.
Thunell B. (1975) Grading errors in practice CIB‐Paper 16‐5‐1.
Nordberg L. Thunell B. (1975) On the effect of measurement errors when grading structural timber. CIB‐Paper 16‐5‐2.
Standards
British Standard BS 4978 Visual strength grading of softwood
French Standard NF B 52‐001 Règles d’utilisation du bois dans les constructions; Classement visuel pour employ en structure pour les
principales essences résineuses et feuillues
German Standard DIN 4074 Teil 1 Sortierung von Holz nach der Tragfähigkeit, Nadelschnittholz, 2003
Nordic grading rules – INSTA 142 Nordic visual strength grading rules for timber
Swiss Standard SIA 265/2:2009 Holzbau – Ergänzende Festlegungen
ECE recommended standards for stress grading and finger‐jointing of structural coniferous sawn timber. Economic Commission for Europe,
Timber Committee. 1989