Abstract for CIB 08/2012

Harmonisation of tension strength classes

Dr.-Ing. Julia K. Denzler
email: j.denzler@holzforschung.at

Safe use of timber in constructions requires that its main properties are characterised.
EN 338 defines these properties for edgewise bending members in different strength
classes. Within EN 338 these characterising properties are characteristic bending strength,
mean E in bending and characteristic density. All other values, e.g. tension strength or
compression strength, are defined based on equations to obtain corresponding values on the
safe side. The characteristic E in tension is not mentioned. EN 338 comprises so called "C"
classes for softwood and poplar and so called "D" classes for hardwoods.

Today, a vast amount of timber is used in constructions where the design is based on the
members predominantly loaded in tension, e.g. glulam. The growing popularity of timber
products mainly loaded in tension made it necessary to create tension strength classes
comparable to the existing bending strength classes in EN 338. This necessity arises
because the tension strength values in EN 338 are derived from the edgewise bending
strength values with a factor of 0.6 on the safe side. Therefore, the given relationship of
tension strength, E and density in EN 338 is not optimised for members loaded in tension.

Within machine strength grading, this necessity was identified more than 10 years ago.
Several tension strength classes have been introduced, defining the basic properties
characteristic tension strength, mean E in tension and characteristic density. At the moment
five different sets for tension strength profiles, each with several classes, exist. Tab. 1
summarizes these possibilities with respect to origin and number of classes.

Tab. 1: Summary of existing tension strength profiles.

name origin number of classes
T FprEN 14081 18
L EN 14081-4 11
LD EN 14081-4 5
LS EN 14081-4 5
C EN 338 12
total 51

The actual situation with a lot of different tension strength profiles is not only unsatisfying but
poses also a potential threat to safety. The sheer number of classes causes questions and
misunderstandings. To use timber as best as possible, the relationship within characteristic
tension strength profiles should be based on a representative sample of the population. If
inadequate relationships are used for the derivation of strength classes, the grading is mainly

1
based on the most critical property, whereas the other two can be easily fulfilled. This would
lead to inefficient use of timber.

This paper presents harmonised profiles for members mainly loaded in tension. The aim is to
create a profile of characteristic tension values to be included in EN 338. All other actual
existing profiles for tension members should be converted to the new profile in EN 338.

Based on 6000 test data, the relationship between tension strength, E in tension and density
is determined for spruce and pine based on three different methods: sliding percentiles,
grading based on E as indicating property and grading based on strength as indicating
property. The results show that…

… the tension strength classes chosen so far are in line with reality

... the relationship between E and density is slightly overestimated in high strength classes

… the tension strength values in EN 338 are not always conservative compared to the
mean E in tension.

Harmonised tension strength classes with slightly adopted relationships between

characteristic tension strength and mean E in tension as well as characteristic tension
strength and characteristic density are presented for additional tension strength classes in
EN 338. The comparison between the proposal and the existing profiles is part of the
discussion.

Until now, no substantial amount of literature dealing with this topic has been published.
BURGER & GLOS (1995) investigated the relationship between E in tension and E in bending.
Beyond that, literature dealing with the development of tension strength profiles is rare.

Literature

EN 338. Structural timber – Strength classes. European Committee for Standardization,

Brussels, 2009.

FprEN 14080 Timber structures – Glued laminated timber and glued solid timber. Working
document of CEN TC 124 / WG 3. 12-2011.

EN 14081-4. Timber structures ― Strength graded structural timber with rectangular cross
section ― Part 4: Machine grading ― Grading machine settings for machine controlled
systems. European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, 2009.

BURGER, N.; GLOS, P. (1995): Verhältnis zwischen Zug- und Biegeelastizitätsmoduln von
Vollholz. Holz Roh- Werkst. 53 (1995) 73-74.