RILEM Technical Committee on In-Situ Assessment of Structural Timber

摘要

Timber is an intriguing structural material and the only one that is truly renewable. Being biodegradable, hygroscopic and non-isotropic, it presents special challenges when assessing its integrity in structures. The presented paper outlines the major issues related to in-situ evaluation of structural timber and summarizes the work of the RILEM Technical Committee 215-AST "In-situ assessment of structural timber". The committee was established in 2005 to bring together leading scientists and practitioners in the field of evaluation of timber in existing structures. Timber structures have been investigated for decades using numerous techniques that have been either developed specifically for the material or were transferred from other fields of investigation. A state-of-the-art report describing existing and emerging technologies and methods was prepared by the RILEM committee. The report describes the principles, the applications and the limitations of major evaluation techniques for in-situ assessment of timber. A brief discussion of codes standards and future research needs shows that much needs to be done in this area. As a present activity, harmonized test procedure recommendations are being prepared that will provide the engineering community with valuable guidance when evaluating timber structures.