Creep and Creep–Rupture Behavior of Wood-Based Structural Panels

This paper summarizes a cooperative research program between the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), in Madison, Wisconsin, and Forintek Canada Corp. in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This research program provided detailed creep–rupture and some creep information for composite panel products. Commercially produced plywood, oriented strandboard (OSB), and minimally aligned waferboard were tested to identify nine mills (three for each product) that produced panels with a range of flexural creep performance. The three plywood, three OSB, and three waferboard products (nine products total, one from each mill) were then tested to provide information on their duration of load (DOL) and creep performance. Large panel specimens were subjected to both rampload and constant-load tests under one environmental condition. The constant-load results provided conventional or deterministic DOL factors that compared favorably with National Design Specifications recommended for adjusting lumber design strength properties under dry service conditions. Ramp-load specimen data generally indicated a lower rate of damage accumulation than did data for constant-load specimens. Creep tests at two low constant-load levels were also performed on large specimens under three environmental conditions for a 6-month period. Those results suggested that present deterministic creep factors in panel design practice might be acceptable for plywood under the influence of relatively severe conditions, for OSB in moderate conditions, and for waferboard in dry service environmental conditions.