Assessment of longitudinal modulus of elasticity in structural elements of Pinus Caribaea timber beams

Abstract

The current standard NBR 7190/1997 (Project of Timber Structures) makes no reference to tests for determining the stiffness and strength in parts of structural lumber; restricting the analysis to bodies-of-tests with small dimensions and without defects. This paper presents an alternative method to determine the longitudinal modulus of elasticity in timber beams, based on the Finite Element Method, as well as the Inverse Analysis Method with an optimization technique. Results show that the methodology proposed by the Brazilian standard can also be applied to pieces of structural dimensions.

Keywords

• Lumber. Finite element method. Least squares method.