Moisture content penetration in wood elements under varying boundary conditions

Knowledge of effects of moisture exposure on timber structures is important for serviceability and load bearing capacity of timber elements and systems. Varying climate affects the moisture content profiles in timber as the relative humidity changes in the ambient air. This paper presents methods for calculation of diffusion based moisture transport and corresponding results on how timber responds to varying moisture with regard to moisture penetration and distribution. The calculations are based on measured outdoor relative humidity and temperature at different climatic locations in Sweden. No remarkably large deviations between the different climatic locations were found in general, which is positive in a design code perspective.