Design of

Columns and
Beam-Columns
in Timber

Column failures
Material
M t i l failure
f il
((crushing)
hi )
P

Elastic buckling (Euler)

Inelastic buckling
g ((combination of
buckling and material failure)

Leff

Truss compression members

Fraser Bridge, Quesnel

Pcr =

EI
2

2
eff

Column behaviour

P f tl straight
Perfectly
t i ht and
d elastic
l ti column
l
Pcr

Axiial load P (kN)

Crooked elastic column

Leff

Crooked column with material failure

P
Displacement (mm)

Pin ended struts

Pin-ended
Shadbolt Centre,
Burnaby

Column design equation

P

axis of
buckling

Pr = Fc A KZc KC
where = 0.8
and Fc = fc (KD KH KSc KT)
size factor KZc = 6.3 (dL)-0.13 1.3

Glulam arches and

cross-bracing
g
UNBC, Prince George, BC

Capacity
p
y of a column
FcA

Pr

material failure

combination of
material failure and
buckling

2EI/L2 (Euler
(E l equation)
ti )

elastic buckling

Le

Pin-ended columns in
restroom building
g

North Cascades Highway, WA

Non-prismatic round columns

Actual pin connections

Column buckling factor KC

1.0

Fc K Zc C
K C = 1.0 +

35E05 K SE K T

3
C

KC
limit
0.15

CC = Le/d

50

What is an acceptable
l/d ratio
ti ??
Clustered columns
Forest Sciences Centre, UBC

L/d ration of individual columns ~ 30

Effective length
Leff = length of half sine-wave = k L
P

Le

Le

Le

Le

k ((theory)
y)

1.0

0.5

0.7

>1

k (design)

1.0

0.65

0.8

>1

non-sway

non-sway

non-sway

sway*

* Sway cases should be treated with frame stability approach

Glulam and steel trusses

Velodrome, Bordeaux, France

All end connections are assumed to

be pin-ended

Pin connected column base

Note: water damage

Column base: fixed or pin connected ??

Effective
length
Ley
Lex

Round poles in a marine structure

Partially
y braced
columns in a postand-beam structure

FERIC B
Building,
ildi
Vancouver, BC

L/d ratios
y

x
x
y

Ley
d

Le

Lex

dy

dx

Stud wall

axis of
buckling

d
L

iignore sheathing
h thi
contribution
when calculating
stud wall
resistance

Stud wall construction

Fixed or pinned
connection ?
Note: bearing block from hard
wood

An interesting
connection between
column and truss
(combined steel and glulam truss)

Slightly over-designed truss member

(Architectural features)

Effective length (sway cases)

Leff = length of half sine-wave = k L
P

Le

Le
Le
Le

k ((theory)
y)

1.0

2.0

2.0

1.0<k<2.0

k (design)

1.2

2.0

2.0

1.5

Note:
N
t Sway
S
cases should
h ld only
l b
be d
designed
i
d thi
this way when
h allll th
the columns
l
are
equally loaded and all columns contribute equally to the lateral sway resistance
of a building

Sway frame for a

small covered road
bridge

Sway permitted columns

.or arent they ??

Haunched columns
UNBC, Prince George, BC

Frame stability
Columns carry axial forces from gravity loads
Effective length based on sway-prevented case
Sway effects included in applied moments
When no applied moments, assume frame to be outof-plumb by 0.5% drift
Applied horizontal forces (wind, earthquake) get
amplified

Design
D i as b
beam-column
l

Frame stability
Htotal = H
= amplification factor
H = applied hor.
hor load

(P- effects)
W

= 1st order displacement

1
=
W
1
Hh
Note: This column does
not contribute to the
stability of the frame

Sway frame for a

small covered road
bridge

Minimal bracing,
combined with roof
diaphragm in lateral
direction
Haunched frame in
longitudinal direction

Bi-axial bending

Bending and
compression

Combined stresses

Heavy timber trusses

Abbotsford arena

Roundhouse Lodge, Whistler Mountain

Pf
fa = Pf / A
neutral
t l axis
i

fbx = Mfx / Sx

fmax = fa + fbx + fby < fdes

Mfx

( Pf / A ) + ( Mfx / Sx ) + ( Mfy / Sy ) < fdes

x

(Pf / Afdes) + (Mfx / Sxfdes) + (Mfy / Syfdes) < 1.0

fby = Mfy / Sy

Mfy

(Pf / Pr) + (Mfx / Mr) + ( Mfy / Mr) < 1.0

The only
Th
l fl
fly in
i the
th pie
i iis that
th t fdes is
i
not the same for the three cases

Moment amplification
P

max

1
0
=
1 P PE

M max

1
M 0
=
1 P PE

max

PE = Euler load

Interaction equation
M fy

M fx
1
1

+
+
1.0
Pr 1 P PEx M rx 1 P PEy M ry

Pf

Axial
a
load

Bending
e d g
about x-axis

Bending
e d g
about y-axis

3 storey walk-up (woodframe construction)

New Forestry Building, UBC, Vancouver

Stud wall construction

wall and top plate

help to distribute
loads into studs

j i t
joists

ttop plate
l t
wall plate
d
L

studs

check
compression perp.

sill plate