Onsite assessment of structural timber members by means of hierarchical models and probabilistic methods

Abstract

One of the main motivations for hierarchical modelling is to understand how properties, composition and structure at lower scale levels may influence and be used to predict the material properties at macroscopic and structural engineering scales. Structural timber is, in most cases, characterized by three parameters usually designated as reference properties: density, bending modulus of elasticity and bending strength. The present paper addresses a review on different possibilities for obtaining reliable data about the mechanical behaviour of timber elements by collecting information at different levels and by organizing that information into a hierarchy of sequential levels (from lowest to highest). The applicability and limitations of statistic and probabilistic methods on the prediction and inference of timber’s reference material properties are discussed and exemplified.