Forest Products Laboratory contributions to the use of Weibull distribution in wood engineering

James W. Evans; Richard A. Johnson; David W. Green

doi:10.2737/FPL-GTR-271

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Forest Products Laboratory contributions to the use of Weibull distribution in wood engineering

Informally Refereed

Authors:

James W. Evans, Richard A. Johnson, David W. Green

Year:

2019

Type:

General Technical Report

Station:

Forest Products Laboratory

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2737/FPL-GTR-271

Source:

FPL-GTR-271

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Download (PDF 2.00 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/58822.pdf

Abstract

This paper discusses contributions developed at the Forest Products Laboratory that have advanced utilization of the Weibull distribution in wood engineering. The increased use of the Weibull distribution in wood engineering primarily occurred since 1975. The goals of this paper are to (1) unite, clarify, and simplify information published in several sources into a cohesive summary, (2) advance the use of this research through corrections of misinterpretations and errors of some earlier publications, and (3) introduce some potential new concerns about the use of the Weibull distribution in some ASTM standards that present an opportunity for further research.

Keywords

Weibull distribution, goodness-of-fit, proof-loading, reliability based design, bivariate distributions, In-Grade Program, estimation

Citation

Evans, James W.; Johnson, Richard A.; Green, David W. 2019. Forest Products Laboratory contributions to the use of Weibull distribution in wood engineering. Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-271. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 16 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/FPL-GTR-271