Determination of the shear strength of tropical hardwood timber

The current shear strength values for high density tropical hardwoods are very low compared to the values for softwoods, according to European strength class tables. The reason for this is that standardized tests according to European standard EN 408 have not been performed yet for tropical hardwoods. In this...

Environmental impact of constructions made of acetylated wood

In the global climate agreements made during COP 21 in Paris, the role of forests and wood products have gained more attention considering their important impact – both negative and positive – through deforestation, forest conservation, afforestation and increasing application of wood in durable (construction) products acting as carbon sink. A...

Steel-to-timber joints of beech-lvl with very high strength steel dowels

Double-shear steel-to-timber joints of beech laminated veneer lumber (LVL) with slotted-in steel plates using very high strength steel (VHSS) dowels have been investigated. Tensile tests on full-scale joints with one, two, three and six dowels have been carried out, using both VHSS and mild steel dowels. The goal...

Optimizing characteristic properties of visually graded soft- and hardwoods lamellas for the glulam production

For the production of lamellas for GLT or CLT visually or machine strength graded timber is required. Visual grading allows only for a limited number of classes while reject rates tend to be high. The present paper shows the potential of an evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II optimizing the boundaries of multiple visual grading criteria in a...

Species independent strength modeling of structural timber for machine grading

The current methods for the determination of the strength properties for wood species for grading purposes require extensive testing. Species independent grading might be a solution for this problem, in particular for tropical hardwoods. The strength reducing characteristics such as knots and slope of grain...

Wood properties from roundwood to timber engineering

Measuring and assessing wood properties during the production chain is getting more and more important for an optimal use of the resource. Over the years, research has been performed with the focus on establishing important wood properties, with the final goal of an optimized use in timber engineering. It is...