Modern structural wood products

Abstract

Engineered wood products are structural composites that have been gaining successes in the construction industry. The mechanical and physical properties of these products depend on the interacting relationships between the quality of the resource, the manufacturing process, and the applications. In general their mechanical properties are more uniform compared with solid sawn material; hence, higher allowable properties are available in engineering design. This paper reviews the manufacturing processes, structural properties, physical attributes, and common applications of some of the major engineered wood products including: glued-laminated timber, parallel strand lumber, laminated strand lumber, laminated veneer lumber, and thick oriented strand board/rimboard.

A comparative life cycle assessment approach of two innovative long span timber floors with its reinforced concrete equivalent in an Australian context

“…This is expected to increase by just over 50% to 5.2 billion m 3 /year by 2050 (Lam 2001). The concern has been raised as to whether forest harvesting is, in fact, sustainable.…”

Strength Characteristics of OSB in Bending – Difference between Upper and Lower Panel Faces

“…The modulus of elasticity in bending and the bending strength of OSB are most signifi cantly infl uenced by the size and geometry of the chips (Suchsland, 1968;Lam, 2001; Nishimura et al, 2004) as well as by the orientation of fi bers of individual chips in surface layers (Geimer, 1986;Xu, 2002;Painter et al, 2006 a,b ), although some other manufacturing factors signifi cantly infl uence strength characteristics as well, for instance the distribution and shaping of chips during the pressing process (Sharma and Sharon, 1993;Oudjehane et al, 1998), pressing time and pressure (Xu and Winistorfer, 1995;Xu, 1999), interactions between layers (Kamke, 2004), type and quantity of adhesive mixtures used, etc.…”

Structural performance of low grade timber slabs

“…It has been stated by Lam (2001) that in Europe, North America, and Japan, glued-laminated timber is used in a wide variety of applications ranging from headers or supporting beams in residential framing to major structural elements in non residential buildings, such as girders, columns and truss members. As a result, extensive research has been conducted on the interaction between laminates and low grade timber for use in beams.…”

“…One of the key features of engineered wood products noted by Lam (2001) within the manufacturing process is reconstitution of timber to form smaller pieces. This process tends to disperse natural macro defects in the wood resulting in more consistent and uniform mechanical properties, compared with those of solid sawn timber.…”