20.500.12556/DiRROS-31173 Toward a general and reliable application of overstrength in timber engineering Capacity design is fundamental to achieve ductile structural behaviour, yet its implementation in timber engineering remains challenging due to the material’s inherent variability and brittleness. Existing definitions of the overstrength factor – whether based on the load-and-resistance factor design (LRFD) framework or derived from component-level structural reliability analysis – often fail to ensure the intended failure hierarchy or result in uneconomic designs. This paper revisits the concept of overstrength, focusing on the unique characteristics of timber structures, where ductility is typically provided by steel connectors with negligibly varying properties while properties of timber components exhibit significantly greater stochastic variability. A new system-based reliability concept is introduced that simultaneously accounts for interactions between actions, ductile capacities, and brittle capacities. By linking target failure probabilities for ductile and non-ductile components, the proposed definition ensures that brittle failure remains consistently less likely than ductile yielding, even in cases where the variability of the brittle, non-ductile components is much higher than of the ductile component, as common in timber engineering. A comprehensive parametric study involving 60 cases evaluates the influence of load ratios, model uncertainty, and variability in actions and capacities within structural reliability analyses. The outcome from the structural reliability-based overstrength formulation was converted into overstrength factors applicable within the LRFD framework. Results show that current overstrength provisions may be insufficient or conservative, whereas the proposed approach provides a more reliable, transparent, and adaptable basis for future code development. overstrength timber engineering connections joints ductile failure brittle failure faktorji dodatne nosilnosti lesno inženirstvo spoji stiki duktilne porušitve krhke porušitve true false true Elsevier Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik © 2026 The Author(s) Neznano 2026-07-17 13:32:53 2026-07-17 13:35:20 2026-07-18 03:45:04 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 str. 1-16 [article no.] 123156 Vol. 365 Oct. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2026-06-20 624.07 1873-7323 10.1016/j.engstruct.2026.123156 283548675 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2026.123156 0 407ce7ba-81d3-11f1-a19f-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=48084 clanek_Toward_a_general_and_reliable_application_283548675.pdf clanek_Toward_a_general_and_reliable_application_283548675.pdf 1 806BE73037F06FD7EFE1F43A9D4BB067 e403a6f13ff07161dda397380fe677ee8fc93468919a91bf2b1405be56df4107 8c8c7e1d-81d3-11f1-a19f-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=48086 Zavod za gradbeništvo Slovenije 0 0 0