BASIC DESIGN CONCEPTS

LIMIT STATES
Limit States are conditions beyond which a structure wont be able to
fulfil its relevance.
Two types of Limit State:
1) Strength Limit State
- Stress nearly exceeds or exceeds strength
- Bending stress, compressive stress, etc.

2) Serviceability Limit State

- Occupants starts to feel discomfort during the structures operation
- Deflection, vibration, etc.

STRENGTH LIMIT STATE

Two design philosophies to satisfy strength limit state criterion: ASD and
LRFD
1) Allowable Stress (Strength) Design (ASD)
- Use of Factor of Safety (FS) in adjusting strength
- Stress calculation is based on unfactored loads
- Widely used in steel and wood design

2) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD)

- Strength is adjusted using resistance factor (that is less than 1)
- Loads are magnified by load factors to account variability
- First application is in reinforced concrete design, now employed in steel and wood

SERVICEABILITY LIMIT STATE

Internation Building Code (IBC) defines service limits for buildings.
Mainly deflections (instantaneous and long-term)
Deflection calculation is based on unfactored loads

BASIC LOAD COMBINATIONS

SAWN LUMBER vs GLUE LAMINATED TIMBER

(GLULAM)
Sawn Lumber directly derived from trees
Classification of sawn lumber by size:
1) Dimension Lumber small member
- 2 to 4 in thickness (width)
2) Timber large member
- at least 5 thick (width)
Glue Laminated Timber derived from
laminated lumber plates
-used when no available timber sawn lumber.

CLASSIFICATION OF SAWN LUMBER

Dressed Lumber is
surfaced to the standard
net size.
Rough Sawn Lumber is
sawn to dimensions that
are close to the standard
net size (The rough sawn
is 1/8 larger than the
dressed size)
Full-sawn Lumber is
when the actual size is
the same as the specified
size

DESIGN METHODS

ALLOWABLE STRESS DESIGN (ASD)

Adjusted Design Stress Values:
=
For a design to be acceptable, the actual stress must be less than or
equal to the adjusted design value:

where
= Adjusted Design Stress
= Design Stress
= Actual Stress

ADJUSTED ASD DESIGN VALUES

= load duration factor (ASD only)
= wet service factor
= size factor
= flat use factor
= incising factor
= temperature factor
= repetitive member factor
= column stability factor
= beam stability factor
= bearing area factor

LOAD AND RESISTANCE FACTOR DESIGN

(LRFD)
Code-specified factored loads are given sa subscript u to indicate the force is due
to factored loads.
To establish nominal design values in LRFD, reference design values are multiplied
by a format conversion factor,

Adjusted Design Stress Values:

Factored Member Force:

For a design to be acceptable, the factored member force must be less than or
equal to the adjusted LRFD resistance:

ADJUSTED LRFD DESIGN VALUES

= time effect factor (LRFD only)
= resistance factor (LRFD only)
= wet service factor
= size factor
= flat use factor
= incising factor
= temperature factor
= repetitive member factor
= column stability factor
= beam stability factor

REFERENCE DESIGN VALUES

DURATION OF LOAD,
Duration of Load is accumulated length of time a load is applied during
the life of the structure.
The longer a load acts on a wood member, the lower the strength of the wood
member, conversely, the shorter load duration, the stronger the wood member.

Governing corresponds to the shortduration in the load combination

applies to all reference design values
except compression perpendicular to
grain and modulus of elasticity (E)

Type of Load

Load Duration Factor, CD

Dead Load

0.9

Floor Live Load

1.0

Roof Live Load

1.25

Wind or Seismic Load

1.33 (or 1.6)

Impact

2.0

WET SERVICE FACTOR,

As moisture increases, the strength of the wood decreases.
S-dry condition maximum moisture content of 19% for sawn lumber,
16% for glulam
Sawn Lumber
Glulam

Moisture Content (%)

Moisture Factor, CM

19 (S-dry)

1.0

> 19

See table below

16 (S-dry)

1.0

> 16

See table below

Sawn Lumber

0.85*

1.0

0.97

0.67

0.8**

0.9

Glulam

0.8

0.8

0.875

0.53

0.73

0.833

*when 1150 psi, = 1.0

**when 750 psi, = 1.0

SIZE FACTOR,
- As the size of the wood increases, there becomes a large deviation between the predicted
(theoretical) behaviour to the actual behaviour
- Strength decreases as the wood cross section dimension increases
- Applicable only to sawn lumber (dimension lumber and timber)
- For , and only
Formula is applicable only for timber:
300 1
= (
)9 1.0 (, )

12 1
= ( )9 1.0 (, )

d = depth of beam

SIZE FACTOR,
Size Factors for Dimension Lumber:

FLAT USE FACTOR,

Applies when dimension of lumber from 2 to 4 thick is subject to
weak axis bending.
When loaded in the weak axis, may be increased by multiplying
this factor
Width (depth)

Thickness
2 and 3

2 and 3

1.00

1.10

1.0

1.10

1.05

1.15

1.05

1.15

1.05

10 and wider

1.20

1.10

TEMPERATURE FACTOR,
Applies when temperature exceed 660C for long periods
Is used to reduce reference design values if prolonged exposure to
higher than normal temperatures are encountered in a design
situation
= 1.0 is normally used in the design of ordinary wood frame
buildings

BENDING STABILITY FACTOR,

Applicable only to bending stress design value
Used to prevent buckling of the compression edge of beam
If depth is equal or less than the width, = 1.0
If beam is supported at the ends against rotation and along the entire
compression edge against lateral displacement, = 1.0
For d>b, the beam stability factor is given by:

1+

1.9

1+

1.9

0.95

REPETITIVE MEMBER FACTOR,

A repetitive member system is defined as one that
has (1) three or more parallel members of
Dimension Lumber; (2) members spaced not more
than 600 mm; (3) members connected together by
a load-distributing element such a roof, floor, or
wall sheathing.

For a repetitive member system, the reference

may be multiplied by a repetitive member
factor, 1.15. For all other framing systems, 1.00.

COLUMN STABILITY FACTOR,

Accounts for the buckling stability of columns
For fully braced column, = 1.0 about the axis where bracing is
provided
Be discussed in detail in the Column Design Lecture

BEARING AREA FACTOR,

Accounts for the increase in allowable stress at
interior supports
Applicability conditions:
Length of bearing along the grain is less than 6
(150mm)
Not nearer than 3 (75mm) from member end
Applied to compressive stress perpendicular to
grain
+ 10
+ 0.375
=

=
()

where is the length of bearing

INCISING FACTOR,
Factor is applied when wood has incisions for penetration of
preservatives

The following factors shall be used as follows:

()

0.95

0.80

0.80

0.80

0.80

MODULI OF ELASTICITY OF SAWN LUMBER,

and
E = reference modulus of elasticity, is used in calculating deflection
= reduced modulus of elasticity, is used in determining beam and
column stability factors; derived by applying 1.66 factor of safety of E

=
1.66

EXAMPLE:
Given a 2 x 10 Agoho (80% stress grade) wood member that is fully
braced laterally, subject to governing load combination of dead and roof
live load, and exposed to normal temperature conditions, determine all
the adjusted values

EXAMPLE:
Roof rafters are 50 mm x 200 mm (2 x 8) at 0.60 m o.c. and they
directly support the roof sheathing. Determine the allowable design
stress. Wood specie is Yakal at 63% stress grade. Bending will be about
the strong axis of the cross section. The members are braced. The
moisture content is less than 19%. Normal temperature conditions
apply.