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Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is a well-known high-performance engineered wood product suitable for structural applications. However, the peeling process can induce lathe checks of the veneer with various depth and spatial frequencies. In this study, a finite element model (FEM) is proposed to describe and to analyze the influence of veneer lathe checks on the elastic properties of LVL. Firstly, the typical lathe check depths and frequencies were determined by means of different compression rates of the pressure bar when peeling. These experimental results served as input to the model to compare the influence of check depth and frequency on the elastic behavior of an LVL beam in four-point bending. The checks were modeled as free spaces in the cross-section that can be partially filled with glue. The results show that the longitudinal modulus of elasticity is marginally affected by checking, while the shear rigidity of the LVL beam is significantly reduced in edgewise bending if checks are not glued. Gluing checks, even under consideration of a low Young’s modulus of glue, highly reduces the effect of checking on the elastic mechanical properties of LVL.

Timber strength grading has become a major issue in the European Union during the last years, due to the introduction of the Eurocode 5 and all its related standards. Currently, the most performing strength grading machines are able to locally detect the boards' knots sizes and positions and interpret this information through adapted grading models. The best lead to improve their accuracy seems to be the introduction of new information about the boards and adapt the mechanical model to take them in account. Small grain angle causes high reduction of clear wood's mechanical properties; local value of slope of grain appears to be of high interest. The aim of this study is to quantify the additional accuracy that grain angle information can bring to an optical scanner used as a strength grading machine. A specific grading model has been developed accordingly, and the results obtained for different machine/model/loading combinations are presented. These results show that slope of grain measurement can significantly improve the accuracy of the optical scanner, for both modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture estimations.

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Wood heat treatment is an attractive alternative to improve decay resistance of wood species with low natural durability. However, this improvement of durability is realized at the expense of the mechanical resistance. Decay resistance and mechanical properties are strongly correlated to thermal degradation of wood cells wall components. Mass loss resulting from this degradation is a good indicator of treatment intensity and final treated wood properties. However, the introduction of a fast and accurate system for measuring this mass loss on an industrial scale is very difficult. Nowadays, many studies are conducted on the determination of control parameters which could be correlated with the treatment conditions and final heat treated wood quality such as decay resistance. The aim of this study is to investigate the relations between kinetics of temperature used during thermal treatment process representing heat treatment intensity, mass losses due to thermal degradation and conferred properties to heat treated wood. It might appear that relative area of treatment temperature curves is a good indicator of treatment intensity. Heat treatment with different treatment conditions (temperature-time) have been performed under vacuum, on four wood species (one hardwood and three softwoods) in order to obtain thermal degradation mass loses of 8, 10 and 12%. For each experiment, relative areas corresponding to temperature kinetics, mass loss, decay resistance and mechanical properties have been determined. Results highlight the statement that the temperature curves' area constitutes a good indicator in the prediction of needed treatment intensity, to obtain required wood durability and mechanical properties such as bending resistance and Brinell hardness.

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aIn the European Union, timber is used in structural applications and must be graded with a Conformité Européene (CE) mark. To achieve standard, machine strength grading is used. A common technology for these machines is based on using the vibrational response of each wood board to estimate the timber modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture. The first Eigen frequency is usually used to predict these mechanical properties. However, in heterogeneous wood species such as oak, this parameter is less correlated with mechanical properties. The current study proposes two new methods based on an extended exploitation of the vibrational response that predicts oak wood mechanical properties. The first method was based on the mechanical parameters deduced from several Eigen frequencies that were chosen with regards to a stepwise regression. The second method was based on the full vibrational spectrum and used a partial least squares method. The first method slightly improved the prediction of the modulus of elasticity compared with the first Eigen frequency in edgewise transversal vibration. Both methods significantly improved the prediction of the modulus of rupture.

is an open access repository that collects the work of Arts et Métiers ParisTech researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. Abstract:In this paper, a new approach to computing the deviation of wood grain is proposed. To do this, the thermal conduction properties of timber are used (higher conduction in the fiber direction). Exciting the surface of the wood with a laser and capturing the thermal conduction using a thermal camera, an ellipse can be observed. Using a method similar to the tracheid effect, it is possible to extract information from this ellipse, such as the slope of grain and the presence of knots. With this method it is therefore possible to extend the mechanical model (assessing the mechanical properties of timber) to take certain singularities into account. Using this approach, the slope of grain can be estimated for any wood species, either hardwood or softwood, which was not possible with the existing tracheid effect. References and links