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...
Wood-based composites (WBCs) are an important sector of the US economy. For a WBC product to succeed, understanding its long-term durability, including seasonal variations in temperature and humidity, is critical. Durability is especially important WBCs because they are predominantly made from wood, which is a biological, hygroscopic material that is...
Engineers, in practice, are often faced with the challenge of evaluating a fire-damaged structure and developing a rehabilitation and retrofit plan. In order to decide on a rehabilitation and retrofit plan, information on thermal degradation of building materials and connections are vital. A critical knowledge gap exists in terms of...
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...
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JohnA. Nairn & Brian Bay
In many composites, fiber bridging develops as part of the
Timber engineering is currently in the midst of a significant evolution due to the rise of mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber (CLT). Increasing numbers of structural engineers are facing the challenge of designing lateral-force-resisting systems (LFRS) for multistory CLT structures. LFRS solutions such as steel frames, concrete cores, or...
Favorable properties of Balsa wood make it an interesting alternative in a number of
applications including thermal insulation or as a lightweight core material in
sandwich composites. Increasing use in construction necessitates a better
understanding of its mechanical and failure properties. In the present work, mode I
and mode II...
The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate orthogonal cutting as a method to determine the fracture toughness of low and high density polyethylene and wood plastic composites. A test fixture was developed to capture normal and tangential cutting forces at variable depth and rake angle. A tool interface method...
Polymeric composites reinforced with bio-materials have advantages over composites with synthetic reinforcements. Bio-based composites use low-cost and renewable reinforcements, have nonabrasive properties for machining, have improved damping characteristics, and have potential for energy recycling. However, the limited use of bio-based composites is because their mechanical properties are typically much lower...
In the search to improve and incorporate nano and renewable materials into urea-formaldehyde (UF), several researchers have incorporated cellulose nano fibrillated (CNF) into the adhesive. This study aimed to find an optimal way of incorporating CNF into UF and understand how CNF interacts with and changes the properties of the...
Today nano scale materials are being used for wide range of applications. One promising topic in nano scale materials is using them for reinforcement of different polymeric materials to reach desirable stiffness properties. The stiffness of these materials is mostly found experimentally because the nanocomposite community lacks a decent analytical...