Machine strength grading of structural timber is based upon relationships between so called indicating properties (IPs) and bending strength. However, such relationships applied on the market today are rather poor. In this paper, new IPs and a new grading method resulting in more precise strength predictions are presented. The local fibre orientation on face and edge surfaces of wooden boards was identified using high resolution laser scanning. In combination with knowledge regarding basic wood material properties for each investigated board, the grain angle information enabled a calculation of the variation of the local MOE in the longitudinal direction of the boards. By integration over cross-sections along the board, an edgewise bending stiffness profile and a longitudinal stiffness profile, respectively, were calculated. A new IP was defined as the lowest bending stiffness determined along the board. For a sample of 105 boards of Norway spruce of dimension 45 9 145 9 3,600 mm 3 , a coefficient of determination as high as 0.68-0.71 was achieved between this new IP and bending strength. For the same sample, the coefficient of determination between global MOE, based on the first longitudinal resonance frequency and the board density, and strength was only 0.59. Furthermore, it is shown that improved accuracy when determining the stiffness profiles of boards will lead to even better predictions of bending strength. The results thus motivate both an industrial implementation of the suggested method and further research aiming at more accurately determined board stiffness profiles. Bestimmung der Biegefestigkeit von Schnittholz und der Variation der Biegesteifigkeit in Brettlängsrichtung in

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This paper presents results from an experimental assessment of glued-in rods in cross laminated timber (CLT). For the purposes of the study more than 60 pull-pull tests were performed, where the specimens varied in terms of bonded-in length (from 80 to 400 mm), rod diameter (16-24 mm) and rod-to-grain angle (parallel and perpendicular). Several different failure modes that are not common for other applications of glued-in rods (e.g., a failure between CLT layers) were obtained for the analysed CLT specimens. It was found that these failure mechanisms can substantially influence the obtained ultimate tension loads. At the end, the experimental results were compared with empirical and semi-empirical equations for estimating the pull-out strength of glued-in rods in structural timber and glulam. The comparison showed that most of the existing equations overestimate the ultimate tension loads for specimens with the rod parallel to the grain and underestimate the ultimate tension load for specimens with the rod perpendicular to the grain. The results vary because the possible CLT failure modes were not included in previous studies. Further studies are proposed to improve the equations for glued-in rods in CLT. Keywords Glued-in rods Á Cross laminated timber (CLT) Á Pull-pull experiment Á Glued-in length Á Rodto-grain angle Á Failure mechanisms in CLT The original version of this article was revised due to a retrospective Open Access order.

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The strain distribution along wood adhesive bonds was studied using a contact-free measurement system based on a white-light digital image correlation (DIC) technique. Two different specimen geometries and three different adhesives were investigated. The specimen geometries were according to the standards EN302-1 and ASTM D905. The adhesives tested were a phenolic resorcinol (PRF), a one-component polyurethane (PUR) and an epoxy (EPX). In addition to the experimental investigation, a finite element study using a non-linear fracture mechanics model for the adhesive bond line was carried out, aimed at investigating whether deformation measurements could predict differences in the mechanical behaviour of the adhesives. The measurement technique was found to be capable of distinguishing, in terms of their strain distributions at a given load, adhesives that differed markedly from one another. For example, the brittle PRF adhesive showed more localised strains than the more ductile EPX and PUR adhesives did at the same load level. Another conclusion from this study is that the measurement technique used is applicable to situations in which large strains occur. Thus, the technique used here is of great interest for use in the calibration of finite element models and constitutive theories and for the design of test set-ups.

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