Duration of load effects of solid wood: A review of methods and models
Abstract
Test methods for studying the effect of long-term loading on the load-carrying capacity of structural wood are discussed. The impact of sampling procedures on test results is investigated and is exemplified. It is concluded from this investigation that the sampling method has a significant impact on the test results. A number of mathematical models for estimation of the effect of load duration are also presented and brief outlines of the theoretical background for five categories of models are given. No attempt is made to compare the models in order to nominate the best model. Effort is, however, made to illustrate the futility of calibrating models against one type of test when the model is redundant to the test type.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The mechanical properties of salvaged timber elements might be affected by natural aging phenomena, duration of load effects, or mechanical and biological damages.
“The mechanical properties of salvaged timber elements might be affected by natural aging phenomena, the duration of load effects (DOL, static fatigue, see, e.g., [17]), or mechanical and biological damages.”
From Bending Properties and Vibration Characteristics of Dowel-Laminated Timber Panels Made with Short Salvaged Timber Elements (2023) · cites this paper as [17]
Cites
Duration of load and probability of failure in wood. Part I. Modelling creep rupture
Barrett, J. D., & Foschi, R. O. (1978) · Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering · doi:10.1139/l78-057 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Structural behaviour of timber
Quenneville, P. J. H. (1993) · Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering · doi:10.1139/l93-021 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Load-Duration Effects in Western Hemlock Lumber
Foschi, R. O., & Barrett, J. D. (1982) · Journal of the Structural Division · doi:10.1061/jsdeag.0005984 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
A Cumulative Damage Model to Predict Load Duration Characteristics of Lumber
Gerhards, C. C., & Link, C. L. (1987) · Wood and Fiber Science (Society of Wood Science and Technology) · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Time-related effects of loading on wood strength: a linear cumulative damage theory.
Gerhards, C. C. (1979) · Wood science · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Deformation and damage processes in wood
van der Put, T. A. C. M. (1989) · Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Duration of load and probability of failure in wood. Part II. Constant, ramp, and cyclic loadings
Barrett, J. D., & Foschi, R. O. (1978) · Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering · doi:10.1139/l78-058 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
A chemical kinetics approach to the duration-of-load problem in wood
Caulfield, D. F. (2007) · Wood and Fiber Science (Society of Wood Science and Technology) · Cited by 29 · see citing works
The Effect of Duration of Load on the Bending Strength of Wood
Pearson, R. G. (1972) · Holzforschung · doi:10.1515/hfsg.1972.26.4.153 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Elmendorf, A. (1916) · Journal of the Franklin Institute · doi:10.1016/s0016-0032(16)90063-2 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Journal of the Franklin Institute
(1951) · Journal of the Franklin Institute · doi:10.1016/0016-0032(51)90548-0 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Strain rate effects on the ratio of recoverable to non-recoverable strain in linear polyethylene
Fotheringham, D., & Cherry, B. W. (1978) · Journal of Materials Science · doi:10.1007/bf00647765 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Load‐Duration Effects in Structural Lumber: Strain Energy Approach
Fridley, K. J., Tang, R. C., & Soltis, L. A. (1992) · Journal of Structural Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9445(1992)118:9(2351 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Probabilistic Modeling of Duration of Load Effects in Timber Structures
Köhler, J., & Svensson, S. (2002) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationDuration of Constant and Ramp Loading on Strength of Wood
Liu, J. Y., & Schaffer, E. L. (1997) · Journal of Engineering Mechanics · doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9399(1997)123:5(489 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Testing long-term behavior by a duration-of-deformation method
Svensson, S., Astrup, T. F., & Hoffmeyer, P. (2006) · Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 17 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Niu, Y., Rasi, K., Hughes, M., Halme, M., & Fink, G. (2021) · Resources Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105555 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Adhesively bonded connections in the context of timber engineering – A Review
Vallée, T., Tannert, T., & Fecht, S. (2015) · The Journal of Adhesion · doi:10.1080/00218464.2015.1071255 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Design for adaptability, disassembly and reuse – A review of reversible timber connection systems
Ottenhaus, L.-M., Yan, Z., Brandner, R., Leardini, P., Fink, G., & Jockwer, R. (2023) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2023.132823 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Giordano, L., Derikvand, M., & Fink, G. (2023) · Buildings · doi:10.3390/buildings13010199 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“The mechanical properties of salvaged timber elements might be affected by natural aging phenomena, the duration of load effects (DOL, static fatigue, see, e.g., [17]), or mechanical and biological damages.”
Bayesian Analysis of Accumulated Damage Models in Lumber Reliability
Yang, C.-H., Zidek, J. V., & Wong, S. W. K. (2018) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.2018.1512900 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Interlocking birch plywood structures
Aranha, C. A., Hudert, M., & Fink, G. (2021) · International Journal of Space Structures · doi:10.1177/09560599211022219 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Yang, C., Khaloian-Sarnaghi, A., Yu, T., & van de Kuilen, J.-W. (2025) · Wood Science and Technology · doi:10.1007/s00226-025-01652-8 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Duration of load effect and residual strength prediction of Dahurian larch wood
Han, Q., Zhang, K., & Wang, L. (2025) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2025.144069 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Structural assessment of centuries-old timber bridge foundations in Amsterdam’s historic centre
Pagella, G., Mirra, M., Ravenshorst, G., & van de Kuilen, J.-W. (2026) · Procedia Structural Integrity · doi:10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.019
Structural assessment and service life modeling of historic timber foundations in Amsterdam
Mirra, M., Pagella, G., Ravenshorst, G., Gard, W., & van de Kuilen, J.-W. (2026) · Procedia Structural Integrity · doi:10.1016/j.prostr.2026.08.220
- Authors
- Svensson, S.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Svensson, Staffan
- ORCID
- Svensson, Staffan
- Venue
- Wood Material Science and Engineering
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2009-09
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 115-124
- ISSN
- 1748-0272 (ISSN-L)
- 1748-0280
- OpenAlex
- W2132063434
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Wood Material Science and Engineering (publishedVersion)
- Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Wood Treatment and Properties
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Structural Load-Bearing Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Structural Engineering and Materials Analysis
- Keywords
- load duration, long-term loading, solid wood, structural timber, bearing capacity, sampling methods, test methods, mathematical model, model calibration, creep
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
