Strength classes of brazilian hardwoods for structural design

For the elaboration of projects on timber structures, the Brazilian standard (ABNT, in Portuguese Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas) 7190 (ABNT 1997) ensures the correct application of physical-mechanical properties according to strength classes of lignocellulosic materials. This procedure eliminates the need for botanical identification of woods, since these strength classes support the efficient utilization of a wide range of woody varieties available in Brazil. Due to high mechanical resistances, the hardwoods are usually applied for structural projects of timber construction. This Brazilian standard document prescribes four strength classes (C20, C30, C40 and C60) for these woods, which are determined by characteristic value from the compressive strength parallel to the grain (fc0,k). But, these classes were obtained from experimental outcomes using a few wood varieties. The reorganization of strength classes should result in the best use of mechanical potentials of woods since the updating of these categories leads to the optimization of structural projects for timber construction in order to reposition this biomaterial at even more competitive levels. In this context, the present study aims to verify the current strength classes of hardwoods and if they lead to a good allocation of the fc0,k characteristic values. Otherwise, new strength classes can be determined for better allocations for efficient structural uses. As a result, 56 hardwoods were considered using 672 experimental determinations. Statistically, the current categories can lead to 12,5 % of incorrectly allocated values. The inclusion of C50 and C70 classes allow greater representation for these categories, in order to optimize the use of the hardwoods given the new strength classes. These findings ought to support future revisions of this Brazilian standard document.