Wood Mechanical Properties and Discoloured Heartwood Proportion in Sugar Maple and Yellow Birch Grown in New Brunswick

Duchesne, Isabelle; Vincent, Manon; Wang, Xiaodong; Ung, Chhun-Huor; Swift, D. Edwin

doi:10.15376/biores.11.1.2007-2019

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…While, according to literature, this type of discolouration can be present without any affect on wood mechanical properties (e.g. Hallaksela and Niemistö, 1998;Duchesne et al, 2016), micro-cracking and softened wood are apparent in the discoloured region of this specimen. Therefore, it is likely that the discoloured wood has partially decayed, causing a reduction in strength.…”

Section: Compression Parallel To Grainsupporting

confidence: 61%

Mechanical behaviour of sawn timber of silver birch under compression loading

Collins

Fink

2020

Wood Material Science & Engineering

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Silver birch is a common European hardwood species possessing stiff and strong material properties. The mechanical properties of birch timber under compression loads are, however, not well defined as the influence of growth characteristics have largely been disregarded in experimental investigations. To address this, the present study investigated the effect of growth characteristics on the mechanical behaviour of birch sawn timber under compression loading, parallel and perpendicular to the grain direction. The results indicate knot size as the dominant parameter for both loading directions, whereas in specimen without knots, density, distance to pith and growth-ring width are dominant for parallel to grain loading and density and growth-ring orientation are dominant under perpendicular to grain loading. On selected specimens, local deformation and failure behaviour is further investigated by means of digital image correlation technique using a novel contrast pattern. Strain fields on specimens loaded parallel to grain reveal localized strain peaks at the cracks within knots and around the topside of knots where abrupt deviations in the grain orientation occur. Specimens loaded perpendicular to the grain display localized strain peaks near the pith and at growth-ring tangential angles around 45 • .

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Section: Compression Parallel To Grainsupporting

confidence: 61%

Mechanical behaviour of sawn timber of silver birch under compression loading

Collins

Fink

2020

Wood Material Science & Engineering

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“…This is in line with the general understanding that the discoloration of stem wood is caused by oxidation of the phenolic substances catalyzed by various enzymes produced by microbes (Hörnfeldt et al 2010) and also induced by the plant as a defense reaction e.g. Smith (2015) that actually have minor effects on the mechanical properties of the wood (Duchesne et al 2016). The basic density of decomposed wood was consistently lower for all studied species compared to discolored wood.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Effect of stem rot on wood basic density, carbon, and nitrogen content of living deciduous trees in hemiboreal forests

Liepiņš,

Jaunslaviete,

Liepiņš

et al. 2023

Silva Fenn

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While numerous studies have focused on analyzing various aspects of the carbon (C) budget in forests, there appears to be a lack of comprehensive assessments specifically addressing the impact of stem rot on the C budget of broadleaf tree species, especially in old-growth forests where stem rot is prevalent. One of the main challenges in accurately quantifying C losses caused by stem rot is the lack of precise data on the basic density and C content of decayed wood, which are crucial for converting decayed wood volume into biomass and C stocks. Using linear mixed-effects models, we examine the variability of wood basic density, C content, and nitrogen (N) content. Discolored and decomposed wood was collected from the stems of 136 living deciduous trees common in hemiboreal forests in Latvia. Our research indicates a noticeable reduction in the wood basic density, coupled with an increase in the N content within the stem wood throughout the decomposition process in birch (Betula spp.), European aspen (Populus tremula L.), grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench), and common alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.). While aspen wood showed a decreasing trend in C content as decay progressed, a pairwise comparison test revealed no significant differences in C content between discolored and decomposed wood for the studied species, unlike the findings for basic density and N content. This study emphasizes the need to account for stem rot in old-growth forest carbon budgets, especially in broadleaf species, and calls for more research on stem rot-induced carbon losses.

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“…Therefore while there is undoubtedly some heartwood in these trees, there is also considerable non-conductive wood within the tapping band as a result of tapping history. We therefore chose values of heartwood fraction within the range θ ∈ [0, 0.7], which is consistent with the measurements of Duchesne et al (2016) who found a maximum value of θ ≈ 0.45, while also allowing for even higher values such as those reported by Baral et al (2017).…”

Section: Parameter Sensitivity Studymentioning

confidence: 82%

Experimental and computational comparison of freeze-thaw induced pressure generation in red and sugar maple

Zarrinderakht,

Konrad,

Wilmot

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Sap exudation refers to the process whereby trees such as sugar (Acer saccharum) and red maple (Acer rubrum) generate unusually high positive stem pressure in response to repeated cycles of freeze and thaw. This elevated xylem pressure permits the sweet sap to be harvested over a period of several weeks and hence is a major factor in the viability of the maple syrup industry. The extensive literature on sap exudation documents various competing hypotheses regarding the physical and biological mechanisms driving positive pressure generation in maple, but to date relatively little effort has been expended on devising detailed mathematical models for the exudation process. In this paper, we utilize an existing model of Graf et al. [J. Roy. Soc. Interface 12:20150665, 2015] that describes heat and mass transport within the multiphase gas-liquid-ice mixture within the porous xylem tissue. The model captures the inherent multiscale nature of xylem transport by including phase change and osmotic transport within wood cells on the microscale, which is coupled to heat transport through the tree stem on the macroscale. We extend this model by incorporating a root reflection coefficient that introduces an asymmetry in root water flux and hence permits a more realistic accumulation of stem pressure. A parametric study based on simulations with synthetic temperature data singles out the essential model parameters that have greatest impact on stem pressure build-up. Measured daily temperature fluctuations are then used as model inputs and the resulting simulated pressures are compared directly with experimental measurements taken from mature red and sugar maple stems during the sap harvest season. The results demonstrate that our multiscale freeze-thaw model reproduces realistic exudation behavior, thereby providing novel insights into the specific physical mechanisms that dominate positive pressure generation in maple trees.

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Wood Mechanical Properties and Discoloured Heartwood Proportion in Sugar Maple and Yellow Birch Grown in New Brunswick

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Mechanical behaviour of sawn timber of silver birch under compression loading

Mechanical behaviour of sawn timber of silver birch under compression loading

Effect of stem rot on wood basic density, carbon, and nitrogen content of living deciduous trees in hemiboreal forests

Experimental and computational comparison of freeze-thaw induced pressure generation in red and sugar maple

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