Analysis of Variability in the Design of Wood Products under Imprecision

The design and analysis of many products is performed with imprecisely known parameters, relationships, and environmental conditions. This is especially true for wood products which exhibit greater variability than most materials. Fuzzy set theory applied to the design and analysis of wood products is regarded as a promising approach for modeling the geometric and mechanical property variability. A fuzzy mathematical model is used to analyze the design of a wood beam structure. The analysis is compared with a Monte-Carlo simulation and a root sum of squares analysis approach. The fuzzy set design approach compares favorably with these approaches and has several distinct advantages. It can model user preference as well as imprecision, it is computationally quick, and it better reduces the design space.