Technical Note: Probabilistic Failure Analysis of a Solid Timber Column

Abstract

In this paper, a reliability evaluation of a solid timber column of square cross section subjected to axial and lateral loading in accordance with the design requirements of Eurocode 5 is reported. The First Order Reliability Method (FORM 5) which was written in FORTRAN language was used in the reliability estimation. The results obtained showed that both load and slenderness ratio have eects on the reliability of a solid timber column. It was also shown that the safety of such a column can be enhanced if adequate and suitable dimensions are chosen to have a lower slenderness ratio.

Keywords: reliability evaluation, solid timber column, Eurocode, axial loading, slenderness ratio