Compression strength perpendicular to the grain of New Zealand Radiata Pine lumber

The compression strength perpendicular to the grain is one of the important timber properties for structural design. Exceeding the strength value will not only lead to large deformations and thus a serviceability issue, but it can also lead to a failure and thus a safety issue. Only some compression strength values and little information about the complete behaviour for Radiata Pine from New Zealand can be found in the literature. To correct this lack of information, tests have been conducted to investigate the compression behaviour, whereby compression strength values perpendicular to the grain much lower than the ones published in the current standard were noted. To make the designers become aware of this issue, the paper presents the experimental results of compression tests perpendicular to the grain with New Zealand Radiata Pine lumber. The test results are compared with strength values of the national and different international standards, as well as experimental research results of different species. It also gives an overview of the testing standards in use in different countries, showing the difficulty to determine a consistent strength value. According to the experimental results, the use of about half of the strength value published in the current design standard for compression perpendicular to the grain is recommended for structural sawn timber from New Zealand Radiata Pine.