In this contribution, an overview over a numerical scheme for the crack modelling of spruce wood under tensile loading is given. A material model for biaxially stressed spruce wood with consideration of the effect of knots on the strength properties has been developed. A necessary feature of this material model is its ability to treat cracks by means of the so-called smeared crack concept. For this reason the consideration of a so-called characteristic length in the corresponding evolution laws of the strength values is required. The successful implementation in the material model is shown by means of various numerical examples.

Finite element simulations of structures and structural details require suitable material models. Today there is still a lack of such constitutive material models in timber engineering. Therefore, a perennial research project at the Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures at the Vienna University of Technology was performed. In this paper the testing equipment, the experiments, the developed material model and its implementation in finite element software will be explained. One focus of the mentioned project is the acquisition of the mechanical behaviour of biaxially, oblique to fibre direction loaded spruce wood. This enables a better simulation of multiaxial stress states in real timber structures. The applicability of the implemented constitutive model will be demonstrated by means of a nonlinear finite element analysis of a bone-shaped test specimen.