MS 544: PART 12: 2006: CODE OF PRACTICE FOR

STRUCTURAL USE OF TIMBER LAMINATED

VENEER LUMBER (LVL) FOR STRUCTURAL
APPLICATION
ASSOC PROF. DR. HNG PAIK SAN
MEMBER OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON TIMBER
STRUCTURE
Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Product, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
 PRESENTATION OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION TO LAMINATED VENEER
LUMBER
DEVELOPMENT OF MS 544 PART 12
CONTENT OF STANDARD
DESIGN METHOD
DESIGN EXAMPLE
LAMINATED VENEER LUMBER (LVL)

Laminated veneer
lumber (LVL) is an
engineered wood
product that uses
multiple layers of
veneer assembled with
adhesives.
 LVL PROCESS
LVL consists of thin sheets of wood veneer
bonded with adhesive and oriented with
the grain parallel in the long direction.

Glue LVL
spreading
Veneer oriented
in single
direction
 Loading Direction
Loading direction
Loading
direction
Loading direction

a) Edgewise b) Endwise c) Flatwise

DEVELOPMENT OF MS 544 PART 12
Working Group established in 1999.
First meeting in October 1999.
Last meeting 1st of August 2002.
Total 33 meetings being held to develop this
standard.
Standard published in 2006.
 i. Committee of Working Group
Prof. Madya Dr. Mohd. Zamin Jumaat UM zamin@fk.um.edu.my
(chairman)
Dr. Paridah Md. Tahir UPM ftahir@forr.upm.edu.my
Late Dr. Tan Yu Eng FRIM tanye@frim.gov.my
Pn. Hanishahani Othman CIDB hani@cidb.gov.my
En. Hng Paik San (secretary) UPM pshng@hotmail.com
Dr. Razali A. Kader Golden Hope razali@goldenhope.com
Dr. Wong Ee Ding UPM edingw@hotmail.com
Prof. Madya. Zakiah Ahmad UiTM zakiah@civil.engr.itm.edu.my
En. Ahmad Fahmi Abdul Ghaffur JPN fahmi@kpkt.gov.my
En. Haris Alpiah CA haris@casco-adhesives.com
En. Simon Lee GORISE info@gorise.com
En. Suhaimi Abu Bakar UTM suhaimi@fka.utm.my
 ii. Review of Established Standard
Design standard based on AS/NZS 4357:1995: Structural laminated
veneer lumber
AS 4063:1992- TimberStress-gradedIn-grade strength and
stiffness evaluation
AS 1720.1-Timber structures - Design methods
MS 544 : Part 2 : 2001: Permissible stress design for solid timber
MS 544 : Part 5 : 2001: Timber joints
BS 6399 : Part 1 : 1984: Loading for buildings: Part 1 : Code of
practice for dead and imposed loads
BS 6399 : Part 2 : 1997: Loading for buildings: Part 2 : Code of
practice for wind loads
MS 544 : Part 2 : 2001: Permissible stress design for solid timber
 iii. Testing of LVL samples
Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) were produced
from five tropical hardwood species, i.e., Yellow
Meranti (Shorea spp), Kedondong (Canarium
spp.), Bintangor (Calophyllum spp.) White
Meranti (Shorea spp.) and Keruing (Dipterocarpus
spp.)
The process spec as below;
Resin : Phenol formaldehyde (PF)
Board thickness : 50 mm
Target Moisture content (MC) : 12%
 Experimental Design

50-mm thick LVL

Yellow Meranti Kedondong Bintangor White Meranti Keruing

3.2 mm 4.0 mm 3.2 mm 4.0 mm 3.2 mm 4.0 mm 3.2 mm 4.0 mm 3.2 mm 4.0 mm

Logs peeled into 3.2 mm and 4.0 mm thick veneer thickness.

Veneer layers : 17-ply of 3.2 mm; 13-ply of 4.0 mm to produce 50-mm thick
LVL.
 Test Design

Tests that were performed;

Static Bending
Flatwise and edgewise
Bending Shear
Flatwise and Edgewise
Tensile parallel to the longitudinal of LVL member
Compression parallel to the longitudinal of LVL member

All test were performed according to Standard

AS/NZS 4357 : Structural Laminated Veneer
Lumber
 Loading Directions
Load Load

Edgewise Flatwise
 Test Samples

Tests Loading Size (mm) Number of

Directions thickness x width specimen
x length
Static Flatwise 50 x 90 x 900 30
Bending Edgewise 90 x 50 x 1620 30
Bending Flatwise 50 x 40 x 300 30
Shear Edgewise 40 x 50 x 240 30
Tensile 50 x 50 x 1500 15
Compression 50 x 50 x 1500 15
Test Setup

Static bending test setup

Third point loading (4
point bending)
Test Setup

Bending shear test

setup
Center point loading
Test Setup
Tensile parallel to the
longitudinal member of
LVL test
Test Setup
Compression parallel to the
longitudinal member of LVL
test

Lateral restraint
Basic working stresses and stiffness for
LVL
Data obtained were analysed into design value according to Basic Working Stress in Bending
In-grade
Species Basic working stress, N/mm2
Bending1 Tension Shear parallel to Compression Modulus of
(MOR) parallel longitudinal axis1 parallel to elasticity
to longitudinal longitudinal axis (MOE) 1
axis
Mean Minimum

Yellow Meranti 10.2 6.9 0.52 18.0 12000 9204

Kedondong 10.6 7.7 0.61 18.7 12500 9588

Bintangor 14.6 9.0 0.94 20.0 14000 10738

White Meranti 13.4 8.3 1.03 21.2 18550 14228

Keruing 9.6 6.9 0.63 14.0 16900 12962

 CONTENT OF MS 544 PART 12:
1. Scope
2. Referenced documents
3. Definitions
4. Applications
5. Durability
6. Structural properties
7. Connections
8. Permissible stresses
 A. Scope
This Standard applies to Laminated Veneer Lumber
(LVL) products engineered for use in structural
applications in which the primary loading is in either
the edgewise or endwise direction such as rafters,
headers, beams, joists, studs and columns. Secondary
gluing shall be permitted for edgewise bending
application.

Use of scaffold planks or secondary end-jointing is

beyond the scope of this Standard.
 B. Application

Rafters
Load-bearing wall framing

Floor beams and Lintels

joists
 3. Installation

C. Connections
Connectors that may work well in
solid timber members should be
used with caution in LVL as the
veneer lathe checks that are a.
formed during peeling can reduce
its fracture toughness properties.

Since LVL is made up of many

layers of veneers, the connectors
should be installed perpendicular
to gluelines (Figure a) and should
is not recommended to be
installed parallel to the gluelines b.
(Figure b) such that delamination
due to stress concentration
between laminates does not occur.
 D. Durability
Durability refers to the durability of the wood used and the
integrity of the glueline.
The structural LVL should be manufactured by using a WBP
type adhesive, which complies to MS 908. It shall conform
to the requirements of Service class III (an external, fully
exposed condition including marine environment).
LVL is required to maintain its strength and bonding
performance up to an equilibrium moisture content (EMC)
of 20%.
When treatment with preservative is specified, it shall be
carried out in accordance with MS 544 Part 10.
 E. Structural Properties
The strength and stiffness of LVL shall be
manufactured and evaluated using the
methods specified in Malaysian Standard MS
2209: 2009: Structural Laminated Veneer
Lumber: Performance Requirements and
Minimum Manufacturing Requirements
The steps involve in the processing the data obtained from a series of
mechanical testing in deriving the basic working stress.
Step Definition Formulation
Modulus of rupture (MOR), shear,
1 Production of raw data
tension and compression values
Modification the raw
data to 5th percentile or
2
values. Using Cumulative Distribution
(R 0.05) Function

Establish
3 Rk = [1- (2.7VR/ n)] R 0.05
Characteristic Test
Values (Rk)

Establish Basic
4 Rbasic = Rk /[1.75*(1.3 + 0.7 VR)]
Working Stress Values
(Rbasic)

Note: = means values

= Standard deviation
VR = Derived coefficient of the variation
1.75 = Load Duration Factor
1.3 + 0.7 VR = Safety factor
 F. Design Values
Grade stress for various strength groups of structural LVL
(Stresses and elastic moduli expressed in N/mm2)
Strength Bending Tension parallel Shear parallel Compression Modulus of
Group (MOR) to longitudinal axis to longitudinal elasticity
axis (MOE)

Parallel to Perpendicular to Mean Minimum

longitudinal axis longitudinal axis

SG1 26.5 15.9 2.28 22.5 3.74 18800 14000

SG2 18.3 11.0 1.95 18.5 3.05 16800 12600

SG3 15.9 9.5 1.61 14.1 2.09 14300 10300

SG4 13.2 7.9 1.23 11.1 1.65 11000 7600

SG5 9.5 5.7 1.07 8.5 1.14 9100 6300

SG6 8.9 5.3 0.86 6.9 1.02 7300 5200

SG7 6.5 3.9 0.76 5.4 0.62 6600 3400

NOTE: The grade stress is adopted from dry standard grade in Table 4, MS 544 Part 2.
 G. Connections
The joint grouping is adopted from MS 544
Part 5 on the basis of testing a single nail size
and a single bolt size.
Strength SG1 SG2/SG3 SG4 SG5 SG6/SG7
Group

Joint J1 J2 J3 J4 J5
Group
NOTE: The joint group for nails and bolts specified in this Clause should not be used for other fastener types.

Where joints comprise more than one strength group, the

design load to be used in the absence of other information is
that appropriate to the weakest strength group in the joint.
 H. Permissible Stresses
Permissible stresses in LVL are governed by the
particular conditions of service and loading.
The modification factors for LVL were adopted
from the MS 544 Part 2: Permissible stress design
for solid timber.
 DESIGN METHOD
LVL can be used wherever sawn timber is used, especially in
structural application.
The properties of LVL show much less variation than sawn
timber. The maximum effect of a single defect in an LVL
laminate is very small as the laminates are so thin compared
with the thickness of the whole member.
 In Malaysia, currently the timber design is based
on the permissible stress theory.
In the permissible stress design or allowable
stress design, also referred to as elastic design,
the stresses developed in a structure due to
service or working loads are not allowed to
exceed the elastic limit, i.e, the stress levels are
limited to the elastic limit.
This limit is usually determined by ensuring that
stresses remain within the limits through the use
of factors of safety.
 DESIGN EXAMPLES

The design example can be

found in this book
THANK YOU