Advances in the knowledge of the influence of moisture changes on the long-term mechanical performance of timber structures

The paper reviews some advances in the understanding and modelling of the effects of moisture conditions and moisture changes on the long-term performance of structural timber. Particularly it describes recent progress in constitutive modelling of the moisture change dependent creep, the mechano-sorptive effect, and in the understanding of the strength reduction of timber structures due to simultaneous load and moisture changes, the ‘mechano-sorptive duration-of-load effect’. The importance to analyse the effect of natural humidity changes on stress and strain state is emphasised.