Effects of Length and Grade on In-grade Tensile Strength and Stiffness Properties of Radiata Pine Timber

  • Tsehaye, Addis (School of Forestry, University of Canterbury) ;
  • Buchanan, A.H. (School of Engineering, University of Canterbury) ;
  • Cha, Jae-Kyung (College of Forestry, Kookmin University)
  • Received : 1997.12.01
  • Published : 1998.06.30

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of specimen length and grade on the strength and stiffness properties of structural timber of radiata pine. The tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of 1,902 machine-graded boards with 3.15- and 1.62-m clear span lengths, were determined using a horizontal tension test machine. The mean failure and characteristic stress values for tensile strength show an extremely high dependency on test specimen length. The mean and characteristic values of both modulus of elasticity and tensile strength show significant dependency on machine stress grades.

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