Factores de resistencia para el cálculo LRFD de la madera plástica.

Abstract

Plastic wood has been used as a material to solve, mostly, non-structural needs, except for cases such as decks in structures subjected to the aggressive environment of the sea. Currently, its design is based on the use of the Allowable Stress Design criteria (ASD), i.e. safety factors, which are not in line with the current practice of structural design for other materials, where probabilistic based methods are used, such as the Load and Resistance Factors Design (LRFD). In this study, the uncertainty of the behavior of plastic wood in terms of its strength and stiffness is studied, for which two types of tests were performed: shear and flexural stiffness of the material. The results of the tests were used to perform probabilistic study using the Monte-Carlo methodology, to define the appropriate factors for the structural design of plastic wood. It is concluded that wood-plastic planks are a lightweight construction alternative to traditional slabs.