A unified rheological model for wood under hygro-mechanical coupling

A unified rheological model for wood under hygro-mechanical coupling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A unified rheological model for wood under hygro-mechanical coupling Zhe-Yi Gui, Bao-Gang Mu, Jia-Ni Lv, Zi-Wen Yuan, Yong-jie Yu, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011549/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Wood is a natural and renewable structural material; however, its hygroscopic nature adversely affects mechanical performance, leading to the degradation of stiffness and strength during service. To accurately predict the long-term behavior of timber structures, the coupled effects of moisture variation and mechanical loading must be taken into account. In the present work, a comprehensive three-dimensional constitutive model is developed to consistently represent the anisotropic elasto–plastic, viscoelastic, and mechano–sorptive behaviors of wood. The proposed model effectively addresses the limitations of conventional formulations by incorporating appropriately selected viscoelastic components, thereby overcoming the underestimation of creep development at high stress levels, and the failure to predict creep evolution under ultimate loading conditions. Moreover, the nonlinear characteristics of mechano–sorptive creep induced by cyclic moisture variations are accurately reproduced. The model is implemented within a finite element framework and subsequently validated against benchmark simulations involving coupled load–moisture effects in the radial, tangential, and longitudinal directions. It exhibits good agreement with experimental observations in predicting the creep and mechano–sorptive creep behaviors of wood under loading in different directions and varying moisture contents, as well as in estimating its failure strength. Constitutive model Mechano-sorption plasticity 3D moisture-stress analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9011549","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610875666,"identity":"5d7cf858-9856-415b-9b89-7d5481d354d6","order_by":0,"name":"Zhe-Yi Gui","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhe-Yi","middleName":"","lastName":"Gui","suffix":""},{"id":610875667,"identity":"8ed18051-ac27-48df-9856-091908c5e758","order_by":1,"name":"Bao-Gang Mu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgZmIMnDz8x8+AFpWiTb2dIMiLYHpIXB4DyPggRRyuUjkps/F1QcljE+zMNgwFBjE01Qi+GNxAbjGWcO85gd5j3wgOFYWm4DQS0zEhuSedtAWvgSDBgbDhOn5TDvv8M8xs08BhJEaZGXSGxs5m04zGPATKwWA56Hzcw8x9J5JA4DAzmBGL/It6c//sxTY23P33/48IMPNTZE2HIATDVDeAmElINtgRhaR4zaUTAKRsEoGKkAAC48PHXprmDIAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bao-Gang","middleName":"","lastName":"Mu","suffix":""},{"id":610875668,"identity":"d9cba649-3aaf-4258-b4c0-d0fb02da4597","order_by":2,"name":"Jia-Ni Lv","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jia-Ni","middleName":"","lastName":"Lv","suffix":""},{"id":610875669,"identity":"8e31b5b9-8729-4428-8221-24ad9e7b2a78","order_by":3,"name":"Zi-Wen Yuan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zi-Wen","middleName":"","lastName":"Yuan","suffix":""},{"id":610875670,"identity":"a824efc5-3d0a-4788-a307-8544e1d5432f","order_by":4,"name":"Yong-jie Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changzhou Vocational Institute of Industry Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yong-jie","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":610875671,"identity":"e6fe17e9-fc1e-4829-89d3-e443587b19c9","order_by":5,"name":"Jin Tao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jin","middleName":"","lastName":"Tao","suffix":""},{"id":610875672,"identity":"5d9e2e3b-6264-4d44-8b20-3572e82bf64d","order_by":6,"name":"Fei Lu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southeast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fei","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-02 14:54:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011549/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011549/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108523968,"identity":"e21a0409-c85d-45f3-aa07-0a60fa0acc35","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-05 14:43:00","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2032224,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"article.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9011549/v1_covered_278695cb-d9a3-4c42-87d7-bc57fdfbd05b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"A unified rheological model for wood under hygro-mechanical coupling","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Constitutive model, Mechano-sorption, plasticity, 3D moisture-stress analysis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011549/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011549/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWood is a natural and renewable structural material; however, its hygroscopic nature adversely affects mechanical performance, leading to the degradation of stiffness and strength during service. To accurately predict the long-term behavior of timber structures, the coupled effects of moisture variation and mechanical loading must be taken into account. In the present work, a comprehensive three-dimensional constitutive model is developed to consistently represent the anisotropic elasto\u0026ndash;plastic, viscoelastic, and mechano\u0026ndash;sorptive behaviors of wood. The proposed model effectively addresses the limitations of conventional formulations by incorporating appropriately selected viscoelastic components, thereby overcoming the underestimation of creep development at high stress levels, and the failure to predict creep evolution under ultimate loading conditions. Moreover, the nonlinear characteristics of mechano\u0026ndash;sorptive creep induced by cyclic moisture variations are accurately reproduced. The model is implemented within a finite element framework and subsequently validated against benchmark simulations involving coupled load\u0026ndash;moisture effects in the radial, tangential, and longitudinal directions. 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