Reliability of Nonlinear Wood Composites in Bending

Abstract

Existing techniques of structural analysis for nonlinear composite wood systems under bending/compression loads are combined with probability‐based concepts in evaluating typical wall types of current construction. Material behavior is bilinear: nailed joints exceed the proportional limit first, followed by framing members. Stochastic variables include Weibull distributions for nonlinear moduli of elasticity for framing and parameters of normal and type 1 distributions for wind load. The analysis shows that the walls behave nonlinearly long before final collapse. The walls prove highly reliable, with a probability of failure between 0.000006 and 0.00144. The probability of failure is increased when accounting for the presence of axial load and composite action in the analysis, is unchanged when accounting for errors in lumber grading, and is strongly affected by changes in the variability of the framing modulus of rupture and wind velocity.