Duration of Load Test for Wet Lumber in Bending

Testing of 210 pieces of 2 x 6 saturated hem-fir was carried out to ascertain the validity of applying the presently employed “duration of load” concept to commercial lumber. It was found that wet lumber behaved in essentially the same manner as dry lumber, i.e. that the time effect was strongly dependent upon strength level and that justification for applying a 9/16 x 11/10 time factor in developing allowable stresses could not be found. In addition, it was found that the change in strength caused by a change in moisture content (MC) applied only to the stronger two-thirds of the sample, and that there was no difference in strength at the 5th percentile level between wet and dry lumber.

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