Moisture-induced crack development in timber beams : a parametric study performed on dowelled timber connections

Abstract: A problem has been observed by many researchers regarding the cracks caused mainly by moisture variation in timber structures. However, this effect has been neglected over the past decades. In addition, many design codes do not have a room for a realistic formulation of the moisture diffusion and its effect in causing internal stress, deformation, and cracks. Moreover, if this effect occurs in connection areas, usually the weakest structural section, it has and also had shown a devastating effect on the service life of many wooden structures. In the current work, a Fickian moisture diffusion model is implemented by use of finite element simulation with the help of the commercial software ABAQUS for a dowelled beam column connection. The results of such moisture diffusion were used to analyse the stress situation inside the timber section. Moreover, an extended finite element method was applied in ABAQUS to investigate how moisture induced crack develops into the timber section. Furthermore, a parametric study was performed by using Python scripting to investigate the effect of dowel spacing (horizontal and vertical) and critical energy release rate on the development of the moisture-induced crack. The results obtained revealed that for the same material property when the dowel spacing increases (either horizontal or vertical) the crack length increases significantly. Likewise, the crack length increases when the critical energy release rate requirement of the timber is decreasing.