Preparation No.

Subject : Timber Design

Name: Justin T. Torero

Year and Section: BSCE 5B

Timber as Structural Materials

1. The structure of timber

a. Pith – innermost central portion or core of the tree which consist of

entirely cellular tissues.

b. Heartwood – inner annular rings surrounding the pith constitute the

heartwood (dark color). Also indicates the dead portions of tree such is

does not take the active part in the growth of tree. It imparts the rigidity

to the tree and hence it provides strong and durable timber for the

various engineering processes.

c. Sapwood – the outer annular rings between heartwood and cambium

layer known as sapwood. Also called as “albernum”. Consists of light

color and contains sap.

d. Cambium Layer – the thin layer of sap wood and inner bark.

e. Inner Bark – inner skin or layer covering the cambium layer. It gives

protection to the cambium layer.

f. Outer Bark – outer skin or cover of the tree. The outmost protective

layer and sometimes contains cracks and fissures. It consist of cell of

wood fibre and also known as “cortex”.

 g. Medullary Ray – thin radical fibre extending from pith to cambium

layer. It hold together the annual rings of heartwood and sapwood.

h. Annular or Growth Rings – the concentric layer of a wood.

2. Defects in timber

a. Star Shakes – splits are seen radiating from center. Form due to

temperature variations. This defect is confined only to sapwood.

b. Heart Shakes – splits occurring at the heart of the tree and running

towards sapwood along medullary ray’s direction. Shrinkage of the

inner part of tree due to aging.

c. Cup Shakes – annual rings are separated from each other completely

or partially due to unequal growth of timber.

d. Radial Shakes – takes place during seasoning of timber due to

temperature. Eventually starts from cortex, run towards pith and then

follow path of annual rings.

e. Rind Galls – these are swelling formed on timber after branches are

cut off.

f. Ruptures – ruptures occur when fibres are injured by crushing.

g. Twisted Fibre – this defects is caused in young trees due to wind

action

h. Knots – distorted portion covered in hard grains after branches are cut

off.
3. Types of Timber

a. Softwood – it refers to the wood that comes from evergreen or

coniferous trees. This type of wood grows in a cool climates. This wood

can be light, soft and easy to work with. Common examples of

softwood trees are pine, spruce, cedar and redwood.

b. Hardwood – hardwoods are those that come from deciduous trees.

These woods are stronger and have better texture, color and grain

patterns.

4. Physical properties of timber

a. Timber Gloss – is the ability to reflect light beam pointedly. It depends

on wood density, size and location of medullary rays, which reflect light

rays pointedly, thereby creating the shine on the radial aspect.

b. Texture – is a peculiar pattern formed by the medullary rays, fibres and

yearly layers of wood in different contexts.

c. Humidity – is the ratio of moisture mass in a given wood volume to the

weight of absolutely dry wood, expressed as a percentage.

d. Shrinkage – is a reduction of linear measurements and wood volume

during drying. Shrinkage occurs only during connected water

evaporation.

e. Warping – is a change in the form of the cross section during drying or

wetting the wood. Warping could be transverse or longitudinal.

5. Stress Grading of Timber – stress grades are derived from either visual or

machine grading, which specify the stress limits that apply to timbers used in

structural applications.

a. Visual Grading – stress grades determined by the inherent strength of

the species and the visual quality of the timber piece. These identify

the limits on the size or extent of characters such as knots or sloping

grain that reduce strength.

b. Machine Grading – stress determined by mechanical grading, using

technique that correlates strength directly with stiffness.

6. Strength Classes – range from C14 to C50 for softwood and D30 to D70 for

hardwood. The higher the number, the stronger the timber. The most common

grade for softwood carcassing is C16.

7. Design considerations (Factors affecting timber strength)

a. Density

b. Moisture Content

c. Temperature

d. Grain Structure

e. Condition Growth

f. Defects

g. Creep

8. Design of flexural members]

a. Effective Span – it is taken as distance from the face of supports plus

a half of the length of bearing at each end except for continuous beam

or joists.
 b. Width – the minimum width of the beams shall not be more than 5 cm

or 1/50 of span, whichever is greater.

c. Deflection – supporting brittle material like gypsum ceiling, slates, tiles

and asbestos sheets shall not exceed 1/360 of span. In other cases, it

shall not exceed 1/240 of span. 1/180 of freely hanging length in case

of cantilever.

d. Depth – the depth of the beam shall not be more than three times of its

width without lateral stiffening.

Instructor: Engr. Francis V. Villacorta