Viscoelastic creep in bending of olive wood (Olea Europea L.)

The present work is the subject of an identification of the viscoelastic behavior of olive wood in creep. Creep bending tests are applied to a cantilever beam fixed at the left end and subjected to a concentrated load at its free end. The applied loads are sufficiently small that they cannot produce viscoplastic strain. A four-parameter viscoelastic model was adopted to reproduce the viscoelastic creep of wood. The elastic modulus is determined directly from the deflection creep curves. It increases with increasing load. The viscoelastic parameters of the studied model are identified using an inverse analysis technique. These parameters increase with increasing load. The test model creep curves show satisfactory consistency.