During the past several decades, earthquakes have caused extensive damage to
buildings, including wood-frame, single-family dwellings, in the United States. In
order to mitigate future losses, existing buildings in earthquake prone areas should be
evaluated for their seismic safety. This is also an important issue for buildings in
Oregon due...
Treating durable, second-growth or plantation-grown material with supplemental chemicals could improve durability while enhancing the uniformity of the products. To test this hypothesis, the effect of two candidate biocide treatments on the durability of teak, redwood, and western redcedar was assessed in a ground proximity field test established in Hawaii....
The objective of this project was to develop an analytical model of a light-framed wood structure using a prevalent structural analysis computer program in order to evaluate system effects and define load paths within the structure, especially under extreme wind events. Simplified modeling techniques and material definitions were developed and...
While the heartwood of many wood species exhibits excellent resistance to fungal and insect attack, this resistance is sometimes diminished in second-growth material of the same species. The reasons for the reduced durability are unclear, but they may reflect a combination of both higher proportions of sapwood as well as...
The Pacific Northwest is blessed with an abundance of precipitation. This rainfall, however, can have important consequences for industries that must process the resulting stormwater for proper discharge. This is particularly true of wood treatment facilities. Past management practices at wood preserving facilities located in the Western United States create...
Untreated wood is inherently hygroscopic and moisture content variations can have substantial effects on dimensional stability leading to the development of deep surface checks that further enhance moisture uptake and ultimately encourage deterioration. The horizontal exposure of wood crossties makes water repellency and dimensional stability particularly important in railroad applications....
The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the earthquake performance of wood frame
shear walls, and more specifically: (1) to compare the performance differences of fully and
partially anchored walls under monotonic, cyclic, and earthquake loads, (2) to compare wall
performance under earthquake loads with that of standardized...
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of wood frame shear walls
under monotonic, cyclic and earthquake loads by: (1) estimating the variability of shear wall
performance, (2) comparing the performance of walls under each loading protocol, (3) evaluating
the effects of anchorage on wall performance, and...
New species introductions have been associated with the movement of
people for thousands of years. For instance, horses were introduced into North
America by Spanish explorers, while pigs were introduced by the Polynesians
into many Pacific islands long before the establishment of permanent
European settlements. Both of these species introductions...
Commercial methodologies for producing fungal pigments are of worldwide interest due to the desire to move away from synthetic dyes. Chlorociboria species and Scytalidium species have been reported to produce sufficient yields of pigments for commercial production and have attracted special attention because of their use in spalted wood applications....
Phytophthora ramorum is a plant pathogen that was accidentally introduced to the United States. This invasive microorganism has killed over a million trees in California and Oregon, and continues to spread to new areas. Diseased areas have been nationally quarantined to prevent further spread and more than ninety countries include...
Copper is the most common ingredient in waterborne preservatives and provides excellent activity against most fungi and insects. However, issues associated with copper migration from treated wood have created increasing concerns about potential risks to non-target organisms in surrounding environments, especially those in sensitive aquatic environments. Various Best Management Practices...
The fact that 80 percent of Mexican forestlands are under common ownership impacts the competitiveness of the forest products industry and forest sustainability. Community forest enterprises (CFE) are a heterogeneous group of forest industries managed by indigenous and local communities for livelihood and profit. Many CFEs face inner competitiveness problems,...
Lead-user research is a relatively new marketing research technique, and it has not seen much use in the forest sector. Lead-user research is designed to capture not just the needs of the customer in their own voice but also to involve actual users of goods and/or services in their development....
Society uses massive quantities of wood fiber in production of paper, and demand for fiber is projected to increase further as production of biofuels from fermentation of plant cellulosic materials increases. Because these end uses generally require the costly step of removing of lignin, wood with reduced or more easily...
The fixed bed drying of western hemlock and Douglas-fir biomass particles at temperatures ranging from 50°C to 200°C and air velocities from 0.3 to 0.9 m/s was investigated. The objectives were to describe the drying characteristics of the particles, fit a model for thin-layer drying, and develop and test a...
The global Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) industry has changed dramatically within the past decade, with expansion outside of its start in Alpine Europe. The societal focus on more sustainable options within the built environment has led to an increased use of mass timber construction and its products including cross-laminated timber. Examining...
During the 1400s – 1600s, spalted wood was an expensive commodity used in marquetry style artworks across primarily Germany and Italy. It fell out of favor during the Industrial Revolution, but is currently experiencing resurgence in popularity with US woodturners. How spalted wood is used, and what types of spalted...
Fungi are the primary biological agents of wood deterioration and cause major economic losses of wood products globally. Wood in outdoor applications tends to remain wet for extended time periods, making it susceptible to fungal attack. Understanding the factors involved in fungal colonization of wood is important for developing improved...
Post-tensioned (PT) self-centering shear walls were designed to reduce structural damage from seismic activity. However, these lateral force resistant systems experience post-tension loss negatively affecting the re-centering capability due to delayed deformations experienced by engineered wood products over time. The long-term mechanical response of mass-timber panels to in-plane PT loads...
The wood-based building products industry has experienced significant turbulence over the past several decades as a function of multiple forces including among others globalization, product and process innovation, and shifting customer and consumer interest and demands. Collectively, these changes have challenged the historical tenets which have defined industry strategy and...
Innovation is a critical component for long term success of an organization. However, being innovative is rarely easy. Successful implementation of any innovation (product, process, or business system) can heavily rely on the functionality of the current innovation system in a given industry. An innovation system is composed of policies,...
This work is a culmination of a series of published works related to the use of the Material Point Method (MPM) in modeling wood adhesive bonds. The use of wood as construction material has the potential to play a small role in the solution to the current CO2 and climate...
In recent years, multiple historic and contemporary timber buildings have been instrumented with sensors to monitor the performance of wood products and novel engineering systems. While literature states the potential of structural health monitoring (SHM) data to inform decision-making process of key stakeholders in the architects, engineers, contractors and manufacturers...
The engineering community is increasingly moving towards the design of seismic force-resisting systems that limit post-earthquake damage and reduce downtime to increase urban resiliency. For example, structural spines can be used to provide an elastic load path to impose a more uniform drift distribution with building height, thereby reducing the...
Conflicts and disasters displace millions of populations worldwide. There is a need for rapid and affordable housing to cater to the needs of the displaced and unhoused population. Experience from previous post-disaster responses shows that temporary housing should be rapidly deployable, planned for months to years, and should be environmentally...
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Table 4-3: Dissipation of energy (equivalent viscous damping ratio) and impairment ofstrength
This thesis consists of three manuscripts related to the methodology of evaluating charring behavior in cross laminated lumber panel specimens subjected to fire performance tests on cross-laminated lumber panel specimens. The topic of the first manuscript is the measurement of char rates of unprotected CLT layups fabricated with ponderosa pine...
Structural engineered wood manufacturers need a quantitative measurement technique to determine the ratio of wood to adhesive failure in their shear specimens. Visual estimation of percent wood failure has long stood as an extremely subjective quality control approach according to ASTM D5266 – Standard Practice for Estimating the Percentage of...