Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) is one of the latest engineered wood products to show promising structural features for a variety of structural purposes including resisting lateral loads. For CLT to be widely adopted, its modal behavior needs to be fully evaluated through experimental and numerical methods. It is important to the...
Fungi from the genus Chlorociboria are known for their production of the blue-green quinonic pigment xylindein. Extracted xylindein has been the subject of investigations ranging from fabric dying to use a coloring agent in paint, and shows potential as an organic semiconductor in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and other technologies. However,...
One of the recent additions to the panoply of engineered wood products is cross-laminated timber (CLT). CLT is a prefabricated, large-scale, solid wood panel that consists of multiple layers of lumbers stacked together, with each layer arranged perpendicular to the next layer, glued with structural grade adhesives, and pressed. The...
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a massive engineered wood product made of orthogonally bonded layers of solid-sawn lumber, and is intended for roof, floor, or wall applications. Although it was developed in Europe in the early 90s, CLT is relatively new to North America.
CLT products must be certified for structural...
Spalting fungi show strong potential as natural colorants on a variety of materials, specifically textiles and wood. Four species of spalting fungi are currently utilized in this manner: Scytalidium cuboideum, which produces a red pigment called draconin red, Scytalidium ganodermophthorum, that produces an unknown yellow pigment, and Chlorociboria aeruginosa and...
With the resurgence in the interest of using natural textile dyes, a solution must be found that will overcome the limitations of traditional natural dyes. This solution must also be safer for both humankind and the environment than are synthetic dyes. This study compares the colorfastness of commercially available synthetic...
Variability in wood properties causes boards within a stack of lumber to
dry at different rates and reach different moisture content levels after drying is
completed. The consequence is that the boards will have properties that differ from
ones that were intended to be achieved by the drying process.
The...
Non-destructive commercial ultrasonic grading provides laminated veneer lumber (LVL) manufacturers a means for sorting veneer based on average ultrasonic propagation time (UPT) and/or average dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOEd). While this may provide reliable estimations of modulus of elasticity (MOE), little is known about the influence of veneer defects on...
The fundamental intent of the study was to develop an innovative wood-strand composite for use in structural applications. Plantation grown, low density, hybrid poplar was used in the study which was found to be appropriate for the underlying Viscoelastic Thermal Compression (VTC) process. Wood modified by this process has high...
The goal of this study was to develop an understanding of the nature of surge wave loading on
wood framed residential structures for a variety of building configurations and test conditions.
The objectives of the study were: (1) to measure forces on a 1/6th scale wood framed
residential structure, (2)...
In many composites, fiber bridging develops as part of the fracture process. Fiber bridging invalidates many toughness evaluation methods such as the ASTM E399 and complicates the identification of crack length, which is a necessary parameter in energy methods. In order to measure the toughness of fiber bridging composites, an...
Light-frame construction practices and materials have changed greatly
over the past 100 years. Contemporary research has focused on modern construction; thus, we know a great deal about the behavior of modern lightframe buildings under lateral forces. However, there are many light-frame buildings that were built prior to the introduction of...
Heavy timber framing relies primarily on bracing to withstand lateral loads due to earthquakes and wind events. Bracing configurations in heavy timber framed buildings vary widely and include cross bracing, knee bracing, and other geometries. Many heavy timber frames constructed during colonial American times are still standing, exceeding the expected...