Nigerian Journal of Technology (NIJOTECH)

Vol. 37, No. 2, April 2018, pp. 322 – 329

Copyright© Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
Print ISSN: 0331-8443, Electronic ISSN: 2467-8821
www.nijotech.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v37i2.6

CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES

GROWN IN KWARA STATE NIGERIA ACCORDING TO EN 338 (2009)
FOR STRUCTURAL USE

A. A. Jimoh1 and B. J. Ibitolu2,*

1, 2 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN, KWARA STATE. NIGERIA
E-mail addresses: 1aajimoh4real@yahoo.com, 2ibitunlex01@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This paper is aimed at classifying three potential timbers grown in Nigeria using EN338 (2009) strength classification
for structural size specimen. The timbers namely Vitex doniana, Ceiba pentandra and Pseudocedrela kotschyi were
obtained in Ilorin, Kwara State of Nigeria. Physical and Mechanical properties of the selected timber species were
determined in accordance with EN 13183-1 (2002) and EN 408 (2003) for structural timbers. Four point bending
tests based on EN 408 (2003) with specimen 50x50x1000 mm were carried out using a Universal Testing Machine
(UTM) to determine the bending strength and Modulus of Elasticity of the each timber specie. Characterisitc values of
Bending strength, Modulus of Rupture and Density were determined using EN 384(2004). The timber species; Vitex
doniana, Ceiba pentandra and Pseudocedrela kotschyi had equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of 15.70%, 13.71 %
and 24.28 % respectively. Strength grading of timber species was then conducted by adjusting the material properties
values of species to 12 % moisture content using the required adjustment factors. The timber were then graded
according to EN338 (2009). Pseudocedrela kotschyi had the highest density of 813 kg/m3 followed by Vitex doniana
(706 kg/m3) while Ceiba pentandra had the lowest density of 402 kg/m3. Vitex doniana, ceiba pentandra and
Pseudocedrela kotschyi were assigned to strength class D30, C16 and D35 respectively in accordance with
EN338(2004).

Keywords: Bending strength, classification, density, modulus of elasticity, Nigerian grown timber structural use

1. INTRODUCTION and all these contribute a lot in the beautification and

Global demand for timber is increasing annually at the overall look of interiors. Timber has many other uses
rate of 1.7 per cent. At the same time, forestry but which type of timber should be used for right
resources are not adequate to meet current demands. purpose is important to know because if timber used in
The scope for enlargement of forested areas is limited. construction comes out to be of low quality then one
This trend creates pressure on the economy that may need replacement again and again [3]. Before
encourages the commercial exploitation of natural purchasing timber material for construction, adequate
forests unless supply can be increased through the information regarding timber types and forms must be
establishment of high yielding plantations [1]. Timber known because to select a single knot can bring down
was found to be the world most successful fibre the show of a whole woodwork. Trees grow best in
composite because of its low density, cellular and temperate and moist tropical climates but do not grow
polymeric composite which overlaps into numerous in cold or very dry areas of Nigeria. Furthermore,
classes of materials. Careful exploration of its structural Nigeria as a nation is now allocating huge resources on
properties has shown that it is adequate for designing importation of steel which is not necessary even in
an environmentally friendly structure which is cost fabrication of long span trusses for sophisticated
effective [2]. Selecting timber is not easy as it seems structures because timber can be used to achieve
because timber has various types and selecting the strength, durability, aesthetic and even time
right material for the right use is key. There are many conservation [4].
useful needs of timber during the construction of Structural timber is the timber used in framing and
building such as doors, ceilings, railings and windows load-bearing structures, where strength is the major

* Corresponding author tel: +234 – 806 – 010 - 8550

 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

factor in its selection and use. Most woods used in the content and density tests, a total of 20 test specimens
building construction are softwoods but in structures each of size 50 mm×50mm×50 mm sawn after bending
like bridges and railway sleepers, hardwoods are tests from timber beams section close to fracture were
specially used [5]. For structural usage, the properties also prepared at the same unit.
of large size specimens are preferred to those of small
clear specimens because of unavoidable defects such as 2.3 Moisture content of Timber
shakes, knots other defects found in wood [6]. The timber species moisture contents (MCs) were
Classification of these timbers to standards then determined in accordance with EN 13183-1 [8] and EN
becomes of great importance because of diverse and 408 [9]. The MC for each timber was obtained by first
also similar properties of some of them. When a timber measuring its initial mass before drying using an
is classified and graded, designers can easily use electronic weighing balance. The test sample were then
different available timbers for a purpose. oven dried at a temperature of 103 ± 20c. The
This paper intends to classify potential Nigerian specimens were dried until the final weight of oven-
timbers in accordance with EN338 [7] which is the dried timber is constant after two successive weighing.
limit state design. This will give an opportunity to The initial and oven dry mass of each specimen sample
adopt the Euro code 5 design procedure in the Nigerian were recorded and the MC was then computed from
case of study which is the permissible stress design. Equation (1):
The objective of the study is as follows:
1 To characterize selected timber species for their
physical and mechanical properties according to where m1 and m2 and MC are the initial mass, oven dry
EN 408 and adjustment of characteristic values mass and MC of test specimen respectively. The mean
with respect to moisture content at 12%. moisture content was then obtained by finding the
2 To classify selected Timber species to strength mean value of MC for the 15 specimens of each timber
grades according to EN 338. specie.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.4 Density

2.1 Materials The density of timber is its mass per unit volume at a
The materials used in this paper are timber logs specified value of MC. The density of specimen was
obtained from Kwara State in North-Central part of determined in accordance with EN 408 [9] using
Nigeria. Timber logs sawn into (100mm x 150mm x Equation (2) with its characteristic values determined
3000mm) were purchased from the sawmills to be in accordance with EN 384 [10] from Equation (3).
used for the project and this were conditioned at the
standard environment of (20 ± 2) °C and (65 ± 5) %
relative humidity according to EN 408(2003). Plate 1
where Pk is the characteristic density, P05 is the 5-
shows the timbers sampled from the sawmills. Each
piece of logs were weighed successively at intervals of percentile density, P and s are the mean and the
24 hours and recorded until a relative constant mass is standard deviation of densities of all specimen (in
kg/m3), respectively.
attained. This timber species are Vitex doniana, Ceiba
pentandra and Pseudocedrela kotschyi as shown in
Table 1.

2.2 Preparation of Test Specimen

For bending strength and Modulus of Elasticity (MOE)
tests, 120 No. beams of 50 mm×50 mm×1000 mm
each, that is, 40 pieces per specie, were prepared with
the aid of sawing and milling machines at the wood
processing unit of the Department of Civil Engineering,
Figure 1: Bending test setup and specimen dimension
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. For moisture
Table 1: Timber Nomenclature
Botanical Names Family Name Local Name Where grown Colour
Vitex doniana Lamiaceae Eriri Kwara Kogi (common) Yellowish
Ceiba pentandra Malvaceae Somi Ekiti (Otun) Aparo Ekiti Blackish yellow
Pseudocedrela kotschyi Maliaceae Emi- gbegi Kwara Kogi Reddish brown

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 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

Engineering Laboratory of the University of Ilorin. The

UTM has a square shaped loading head. The Modulus of
Rupture was computed from Equation (4).

where a is the distance between loading position and

the nearest support (mm), Fmax is the maximum load
(N), W is the section modulus (mm3) and f m is the
bending strength (N/mm2).
According to [10], the characteristic values of strength
properties based on the measured MC were computed
from Equation (5) derived from EN 384 [11]:

where and are the characteristic and 5th-

percentile values of bending strength, respectively.
Figure 2: Four Point Bending test Setup
Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the specimen
dimension, bending strength setup and its failure mode,
respectively.

2.6 Modulus of Elasticity

The Local modulus of Elasticity was derived from the
four point bending test as prescribed in EN408 [9]. The
rate of movement of the loading head was adjusted not
to be greater than 9 mm/min. The guage length for the
test is five (5) times the depth of the section (250 mm).
The local modulus of elasticity was then computed
using the following expression:

Figure 3: Failure Mode of 4-point Bending Test where is the local MOE in bending, a is the distance
between inner point loads and supports (mm), l 1 is the
2.5 Bending Strength gauge length (250 mm), (F2 – F1) is the increment load
This was carried out in accordance with EN 408 [9] for (in Newton) on the regression line with a correlation
structural timber. The strength tests were carried out coefficient of 0.99 and (w2 - w1) is the increment of
with the aid of a Universal Testing Machine (UTM) with deformation (mm) corresponding to (F2 – F1).
a maximum load capacity of 300KN at the Agricultural

Figure 4: Setup for measuring local modulus of Elasticity in Bending [6]

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 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

Characteristic values of MOE, which is also the mean The characteristic values of tensile strength parallel to
modulus of elasticity based on measured moisture grain (f t,0,k) and compressive strength parallel to grain(
content is then calculated from the equation as given in f c,0,k) are computed from the Equations (9) and (10),
EN 384:2004 respectively:

( ) –
where Ei is the ith value of MOE, n is the number of The characteristic values of tensile strength
specimens and Emean is the mean value of MOE in perpendicular to grain (f t,90,k) and compressive
bending. A sketch for determining the Local MOE in strength perpendicular to grain( f c,90,k) are computed
bending is shown in Figure 4. from Equations (11)-(14):
for of wood
2.7 Adjusting Values To 12% Moisture Content for rdwood
Equivalent for of wood
Mechanical strength properties are affected by for rdwood
variation in moisture content below the fibre saturated
Fractile 5th percentile values of MOE parallel to grain
point. Generally, many of the strength properties
(E0,0.05) was computed from Equations (15) and (16):
increase as wood is dried. Above the fibre saturation
for of wood
point (FSP), most of the mechanical properties are not
for rdwood
affected by changes in moisture content [12]. Strength
The characteristic values of mean modulus of elasticity
class values according to EN 338 [7] for structural
perpendicular to grain (E90,mean) for the timbers were
timbers are derived from timbers at about 12%
computed from the Equations (17) and (18):
moisture content, which is taken as a reference
⁄ for of wood
moisture content.
⁄ for rdwood
Thus the strength characteristics of timber were
The characteristic values of mean shear modulus
adjusted to 12% reference moisture content using
(Gmean) were computed from Equation (19):
Equation (8).
⁄
Where: F12 is the ultimate strength at 12% moisture T c r c ri ic d i y mean) is computed
content, W is the moisture content at the time of from Equation (20):
testing, Fw is the ultimate strength at the moisture
content at the time of testing, is the adjustment factor Shear strength f t,0,k , was taken from Table 1 of EN 338
for moisture content, equivalent to the percentage (2009) as specified by the code.
change in strength values for 1% change in moisture In Equations (9) to (20), E0,mean is the mean MOE
content. This is contained in Table 1 p r ll l o gr i k is the characteristic density while f
m,k is the characteristic bending strength all which are

Table 1: Adjustment factor for Wood state of stress used to derive the other mechanical properties. Shear
α for ll wood strength f v,k would be taken from Table 1 of EN338 as
State of stress Reference put forward by the code. Equations (12)-(19), which
specie)
differentiate softwood from hardwood, would be
Modulus of Elasticity (
0.02 [11] dependent on the characteristic density range of the
Em , Ec,0 )
timber in accordance with EN338.
Bending Strength 0.04 [13]
Density -0.005 [14]
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Physical Properties of Timbers
2.8 Other Mechanical Properties Table 2 shows the results for the MC of the three (3)
Characteristic values of other mechanical properties at timber species. Pseudocedrela kotschyi had the highest
12% MC such as tensile strengths parallel and equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of 24.28 %
perpendicular to grain, shear modulus, compressive followed by Vitex doniana (15.70 %) and lastly Ceiba
strength parallel and perpendicular to grain and other pentandra with a MC of 13.71 %. Moisture content
stiffness properties of the timbers were determined values in general of the two species were below fiber
using the following equations from Annex A of saturation point (FSP) which is usually between 25-30
EN338(2009). % as recorded in [15]. Table 3 presents the adjusted 12

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 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

% characteristic density of the timbers to be used for lower than Nauclea diderrichii (54.45 N/mm2) in [14].
timber classification in accordance with EN338. Pseudocedrela kotschyi (39.415 kN/mm2) is similar to
Ahun (39.36 N/mm2) as given in [17]. Table 5 presents
3.2 Mechanical Properties of Timbers the results of the other derived mechanical properties
According to EN 384, characteristic values are values of the Nigerian timber species as computed from
that represent a fractile of the statistical distribution of Equations (10)-(21).
timber properties. The Characteristic values of From the results, the Nigerian timbers were allocated a
mechanical properties and density for structural strength class. This assignment was based on EN338
timber are used for assigning grades and species to the which states that a solid timber may be assigned to a
strength classes of EN 338 at 12% moisture content. strength class if its characteristic values of bending
This is achieved with only three characteristic values of strength and density are equal to or exceed the values
bending strength, mean modulus of elasticity parallel to for the strength class given in Table 1 of EN338, and its
grain and density. characteristic mean MOE in bending equals or exceeds
Adjusted Characteristic Density, MOE and Bending 95 % of the value given for that strength class. Based on
strength values of Material Properties for the timbers this, Vitex doniana was assigned to strength class D30
at 12 % MC is given in Table 4. Vitex doniana (12.134 due to its minimum characteristic bending strength of
kN/mm2), Pseudocedrela kotschyi (12.185 kN/mm2) 30.1 N/mm2, characteristic density of 706 kg/m3 and
and Ceiba pentandra (8.854 kN/mm2) had higher MOE minimum mean MOE parallel to grain of 12.13
when compared with Macrocarpa bequaertii (8.169 KN/mm2. The characteristic bending strength, mean
kN/mm2) in [14] but they all fell below White Afara MOE and density of strength class D30 as provided in
(13.32 kN/mm2) in [16]. EN338 are 30 N/mm2, 11 KN/mm2 and 530 kg/m3
Moreso, the bending strength of all timber species respectively.
considered in this paper as shown in Table 4 were

Table 2: Summary of Moisture content result

Standard
Mean Moisture Coefficient of 95% Confidence 99% Confidence
Timber specie Deviation
content (%) variation Interval Interval
(%)
Vitex doniana 15.70 1.27 8.07% ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤
Ceiba pentandra 13.71 0.90 6.54% ≤ ≤ 12.977 ≤ ≤
Pseudocedrela
24.28 4.49 18.51% ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤
kotschyi

Table 3: Mean and Characteristic density of Timbers

Standard
Mean Density Characteristic Density 12% MC Density
Timber Type Deviation
(Kg/m3) (Kg/m3) (Kg/m3)
(Kg/m3)
Vitex doniana 834 69.356 720 706
ceiba pentandra 450 27.290 405 402
Pseudocedrela
1002 82.329 866 813
kotschyi

Table 4: Adjusted Characteristic values of Material properties to 12 % MC

Modulus of Elasticity Bending Strength
Timber Type Density (Kg/m3)
E0,mean (N/mm2) fm,k12% (N/mm2)
Vitex doniana 706 12134.30 30.098
ceiba pentandra 402 8853.71 21.985
Pseudocedrela kotschyi 813 12185.45 39.415

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 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

Table 5: Derived Mechanical properties of the Timbers

Timber Specie
Eriri Vitex Somi Ceiba Emi-Gbegi Pseudocedrela
Other Mechanical Properties
doniana pentandra kotschyi
Tension Parallel
(N/mm2) 18.0 13.2 23.4

Tension Perpendicular
(N/mm2) 0.6 0.4 0.6

Compression Parallel
(N/mm2) 23.10 20.09 25.99

Compression Perpendicular
(N/mm2) 10.6 2.8 12.2
Shear Strength
4.5 4.0 4.5
(N/mm2)
5% MOE, Parallel
(KN/mm2) 10.20 5.93 10.23

Mean MOE, Perpendicular

(KN/mm2) 0.809 0.295 0.812
Mean Shear Modulus
(KN/mm2) 0.758 0.553 0.761
Mean Density
(Kg/m3) 847 482 976

Figure 5: Modulus of Elasticity and Modulus of Rupture Figure 6: Relationship curve between characteristic
relations of the species. bending strength and characteristic density

Based on the same criteria, Ceiba pentandra and once the density is obtained. The coefficient of
Pseudocedrela kotschyi timber species were assigned determination (r2) is 90.7% which shows a good
to strength classes C16 and D35 respectively. correlation between the two timber properties.
The coefficient of determination (r2) is 72.7% which
implies a good correlation between the modulus of 4. LOAD/ DEFLECTION CURVE FOR THE NIGERIAN
elasticity for the three timber species and their TIMBER SPECIE
modulus of rupture as shown in Figure 5. For every 1 Figure 7, Figure 8 and Figure 9 shows a relation
N/mm2 increase in Modulus of Rupture, the Modulus of between the load and deflection for the potential
Elasticity increases by 186.59 N/mm2. timbers specie. A corresponding increase in load with
Figure 6 shows a relationship curve between increase in deflection was observed for all the timber
characteristic bending strength and characteristic species until a point of rupture.
density which would help to predict bending strength

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 CHARACTERISATION AND GRADING OF THREE SELECTED TIMBER SPECIES GROWN IN KWARA STATE, … A. A. Jimoh & B.J. Ibitolu

classification systems in [7]. Ceiba pentandra ,Vitex

doniana and Pseudocedrela kotschyi were assigned to
strength class C16, D30 and D35 respectively. From the
results, Ceiba pentandra is recommended for low-
bearing structures and household furnitures while
Vitex doniana and Pseudocedrela kotschyi can be used
for load bearing structures.
Lack of adequate information (mechanical properties)
on the lesser-used species in Nigeria can lead to the
over-exploitation of the few commercial species such as
Ayin, Mahogany, Obeche and Teak whose properties
Figure 7: Load -Deflection curve for Pseudocedrela are well known. Therefore more research should be
Kotschyi Timber channeled on classification of less-used timber specie.
The authors conclude that the work would serve as a
revision to the Nigerian timber design code so as to
meet up with international standards.

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