article · International Journal of Fatigue
A numerical framework models fracture and fatigue in wooden structural components under mixed-mode loading. The approach accounts for wood anisotropy, viscoelastic behaviour, and variations in moisture to predict service life under cyclic hygro-mechano-viscoelastic conditions. An invariant integral evaluates the energy release rate for viscoelastic mixed-mode fracture during changing environmental conditions, separating elementary modal contributions. This parameter is incorporated into Paris law to estimate fatigue life through crack growth integration. Analyses of various cyclic conditions, including purely mechanical, coupled hygromechanical, viscoelastic, and mechano-sorptive loading, demonstrate that moisture cycles significantly affect wood durability, particularly in combination with delayed deformation mechanisms. These findings show that capturing time-dependent and moisture-related factors is vital for accurate durability assessment, structural diagnosis, and long-term monitoring of timber structures.
Wood is increasingly used in modern construction, yet environmental shifts and mechanical fatigue make structural lifespan difficult to predict. By capturing how humidity variations and delayed deformation combine to drive crack growth, this modelling framework offers a clearer understanding of timber degradation over time. Such insights support better planning for maintenance, improved structural safety diagnostics, and longer-lasting timber buildings.
This computational framework targets structural engineers, timber designers, and asset managers conducting durability assessments, structural diagnosis, and long-term monitoring of timber infrastructure. By predicting crack propagation under changing humidity and mechanical loads, it could inform structural health monitoring software. At this stage, the work represents early-stage numerical research, requiring experimental validation and integration into commercial engineering design tools before direct industry adoption.
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Fatigue and durability assessment of wooden structural components remains a major scientific challenge owing to the intrinsic complexity of wood behavior, particularly its pronounced anisotropy, mixed-mode crack propagation mechanisms, viscoelastic response, and strong sensitivity to environmental variations. This paper delves into a numerical framework combining fracture and fatigue modeling under mixed-mode loading, while simultaneously accounting for anisotropy, viscoelasticity, and moisture variations, in order to predict the service life of wood structures subjected to cyclic hygro-mechano-viscoelastic loading conditions. The energy release rate, which constitutes the key driving parameter of the analysis, is evaluated through the invariant integral A θ visco , enabling the treatment of viscoelastic mixed-mode fracture under variable environmental conditions while ensuring a rigorous separation of elementary modal contributions. This energy release rate is subsequently introduced into the Paris law to estimate fatigue life through crack growth integration. Several cyclic loading scenarios are investigated, including purely mechanical cycles, coupled hygromechanical loading, as well as viscoelastic and mechano-sorptive solicitations. A comparative analysis of the predicted fatigue lives highlights the influence of hydric cycles on wood durability, particularly when coupled with delayed deformation mechanisms. The results emphasize the necessity of developing predictive fracture-fatigue models incorporating time-dependent and hygroscopic phenomena in order to improve durability assessment, structural diagnosis, and long-term monitoring of timber structures.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2026.109873
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