Modelling of durability of wooden structures

This paper presents an empirical model for wood decay development which can be incorporated into a hygrothermal model of building physics. This enables the assessment of the effects of the various structural choices (e.g. protection to driving rain, coatings, etc.) and other parameters (e.g. geographical location and orientation) on the durability of wooden structures. Also, we have run the wood decay model by the ERA-40 reanalysis data based on weather observations in Europe. These studies provide new tools to evaluate the durability and service life of wooden commodities and a preliminary European wood decay map, presented in this paper. The effects of the projected climate change on wood decay may also be considered by this methodology