CH10 Wood

CHAPTER 10
Wood
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Mamlouk/Zaniewski, in Civil
Materials for Civil and Environmental
and Construction Engineering
Engineers, Third Edition. Dr. S.Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Cheng
Learning outcomes
1. Comprehend the fundamental knowledge of materials used in civil and
environmental engineering.
2. Appreciate the nature of materials in understanding their
microscopic structure.
9. Familiar with the important physical and mechanical properties of
natural wood and engineered wood products.
10. Discuss and explain obtained material properties from experimental
tests.
11. Communicate technical results in different forms among peers and
with the instructor, GAs.
13. Appreciate the importance of materials for the design of structures.
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Wood is the earliest Still very widely used
construction material today for:
used by mankind. building frames
easy to use bridges
durable utility poles
high strength floors
low weight roofs
widely available trusses
low cost piles, etc.
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Cheng 3
 Endogenous (intertwined growth): e.g., palm trees
 very strong and lightweight
 not generally used for engineering applications in U.S.
 Exogenous (outward growth): e.g., most other trees

 Fibers grow from the center outward by adding concentric layers
(annual rings) which gives more predictable engineering
properties
 Can be broadly classified as
 Deciduous (broad leaf) = hardwood (ash, oak, maple, walnut,
etc.) – expensive slow growing
 Coniferous (cone bearing, evergreens) = softwood (Douglas fir,
pine, spruce, cedar, etc.)
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 Each annual ring of exogenous tree is composed of:
 Earlywood (light ring): rapid spring growth of hollow thin‐
walled cells
 Latewood (dark ring): dense summer growth of thick‐walled
cells which are much harder & stronger
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From center axis outwards:
 Pith – center stem
 Heartwood (darker) –
provides structural support
 Sapwood (lighter) –
transports the sap
 Cambium (very thin layer) –
location of wood growth
 Inner bark
 Outer bark
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Wood is Anisotropic – properties change with direction:
 Longitudinal
 parallel to the long axis (grain)
 strongest and least shrinkage
 Radial
 perpendicular to the growth
rings (out from center)
 Tangential
 tangent to the growth rings
 weakest and most shrinkage
 Directions influence strength, modulus, thermal
expansion, conductivity, shrinkage, etc.
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 Cellulose  Hemicellulose
 50% by weight  15‐20% of softwood
 polymer that forms strands  20‐30% of hardwood
(fibrils) that make up cell
walls (wood fibers)  Extractives
 High density indicates higher  5‐30% by weight
strength  tannins, coloring matters,
 Lignin essential oils, fats, resins,
waxes, starches
 23‐33% of softwood
 16‐25% of hardwood by  Ash‐forming (minerals)
weight  0.1‐3% by weight
 glue  calcium, potassium,
phosphate, silica
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 Weight of water in the specimen expressed as a
percentage of its oven‐dry weight
 Shrinkage, strength, & weight depend on moisture

content
 Depends on air temperature and humidity:
 Slow changing so it tends to adjust near the average
 Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC)
moisture content for average atmospheric conditions
<1% when hot & dry >130oF & 5% humidity
>20% when warm & humid <80oF & 90% humidity
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 Moisture content when cells are completely saturated
with bound water but no free water inside cell cavities
water inside cell

 FSP = 21‐32% cavities doesn't
 Above FSP affect shrinkage
changes affect only wet weight
 Below FSP held tightly in
small changes strongly affect all cell walls,
physical and mechanical properties wood shrinks
on removal
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 Largest shrinkage is in the tangential direction
 Smallest shrinkage is in the longitudinal direction
 Zero shrinkage above FSP regardless of direction
 For glulam (varying growth ring orientations):
assume 6% shrinkage in 30% change in m/c below
FSP (or 1% shrinkage per 5% change in m/c)
Fiber Saturation
Point
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Production Steps:
1. Harvesting
2. Sawing
3. Seasoning (drying)
4. Surfacing (Planing) (optional)
5. Grading
6. Preservative Treating (optional)
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 Dimensional lumber – 2” to 5" thick – 2x4, 2x6 etc.
 used for light framing – studs, joists, beams, rafters, trusses, decking
 Heavy timber – 4x6, 6x6, 8x8 and larger

 usually rough sawn (actual sizes)
 used for heavy framing, railroad ties, landscaping
 Round stock
 posts and poles – used for marine piling, utility poles, etc.
 Specialty items
 handrails, spindles, radius edge decking, turned posts, lattice, etc.
 Engineered wood products

 bonding wood strands, veneers, lumber or other wood fibers
 large integral composite unit
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Minimal sap
Concerns of fire hazard
Other plant growth and underbrush
is minimal
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Live (plain) sawing – most rapid and economic
Quarter sawing – maximum amount of prime (vertical)
cuts
Combination – most typical
Live (Plain) Sawing Quarter Sawing Combination

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 Three types of board cut
Flat‐sawn (grain is <45o from flat side)
worst quality, most problems and defects
Rift‐sawn (45o‐80o)
Quarter‐sawn (vertical‐ or edge‐sawn) (80o‐90o)
best quality, least shrinkage problems
Flat‐Sawn Rift‐Sawn Quarter‐Sawn
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 A process of controlled drying of lumber to improve its
structural properties
 Green wood has 30‐200% moisture content
 ~15% when it leaves the mill
 Advantages
increase in strength characteristics
lowering of shrinkage in service
improvement in decay resistance
reduction in weight
better workability
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 Factors affect the drying process
Temperature
Relative humidity
Air circulation
 Methods of Seasoning
Air drying (cheap & slow)
Kiln drying (fast & expensive)
Usually a combination
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 Uneven shrinkage in different directions during
seasoning causes warping, checks, shakes, etc.
 Type of cut controls these problems (vertical is the best)
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 Surfacing takes 1/4" (or more) from each side
 S4S = surfaced 4 sides = “dressed”
 Nominal sizes refer to the rough‐sawn (unsurfaced)
dimensions of the lumber in inches
 For example, the actual dimensions of a 2 x 4 are 1 ½ in.
x 3 ½ in.
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 Several agencies for different regions and species
 Graded according to number of defects that affect
strength & durability (knots, checks, pitch pockets,
shakes, stains)
 Visual (appearance) grading
 Stress (structural) grading – Table 10.3
 Hardwood grades – visual (also stress) grading
 Softwood grades – visual & machine stress grading
 For civil engineering applications, appearance grades are
less important than structural grades
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 Affect both appearance & mechanical properties
 Caused by:
 natural wood growth
 seasoning too fast
 wood diseases
 animal parasites
 faulty processing
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 Knots
a cross‐section or longitudinal section
of a branch that was cut with the lumber
harder, denser, and possess different
shrinkage characteristics than those of
wood tissue
displace the clear wood and force the
grains to deviate
branch base that degrades
mechanical properties
allow stress concentration to occur
sound, tight knots may be good in
compression but don’t count on it
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Check
 a lengthwise separation occurring
across or through annual rings
 usually as a result of seasoning
 may occur anywhere on a piece of
lumber
Shake
 a lengthwise separation occurring
between and parallel to annual rings
Split
 a complete separation of wood fibers
 throughout the thickness of lumber
and parallel to the fiber direction
 usually occurs at the ends
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 Warping – (several types) from uneven drying of
internal tree stress
Bowing – lengthwise curvature from end to end
Crooking – lengthwise curvature from side to side
Cupping – edges roll up
Twisting – one corner lifts
 Raised, loosened, or fuzzy grain

 Chipped or Torn Grain
 Machine Burn – from worn saw blades
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Specific Gravity & Density
 Specific gravity of the cell walls (cellulose) = 1.5
regardless of species
 excellent indicator of the amount of material (and properties)
in dry wood
 closer to 1.5 means more cell walls which is denser & stronger
 Dry density = usually 20‐45 lb/ft3 (300‐700 kg/m3)
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Thermal Properties
 Thermal conductivity
The rate that heat flows through (inverse of thermal resistance R
value)
Good R value (R = 1 / conductivity)
much better than metals
slightly worse than insulation
reduces loss of heat and cold
delays fire
 Specific Heat
Ratio of the quantity of heat required to raise the temp. of the
material 1o to that required to raise the temp. of an equal mass of
water 1o
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Thermal Properties (cont’d)
 Thermal Diffusivity
 Rate that material absorbs heat from surroundings
 Much better (lower) than most other building materials
 Thermal Expansion
 Anisotropic: 5‐10x greater across grain than parallel to it
 Applying heat to wood:
 first expands the wood from thermal expansion
 then it shrinks from moisture loss (when below FSP)
Electrical Properties
 Good electrical insulator which decreases with moisture
content – more water is a better electrical conductor
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 Wood is extremely anisotropic
Modulus of Elasticity
 1‐2 x 106 psi – for compression parallel to the grain
 linear up to proportional limit, then small non‐linear
curve
 Depends on:
 species variation
 moisture content
 specific gravity
 direction of grain
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Strength Properties
 Vary widely because of anisotropy, moisture content,
defects, etc.
 Tensile strength is greater than compressive strength
 Tensile strength parallel to grain is 20x greater than
perpendicular
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Load Duration
 Wood can support higher loads of short duration than
sustained loads
 Under sustained loads wood continues to deform
 Design values assume 10 year
loading and/or 90% of full Load Duration Factors
maximum load throughout
life of the structure
 Multiply design values by load
duration factors for short
‐duration loads
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Damping Capacity
 Vibration damping (like shock absorbers) increases with
moisture content up to FSP
 10x greater damping than structural metals
 wood structures dampen vibrations much better than metal
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 Wood is tested to predict performance
 Two main techniques
 testing of timbers of structural sizes (ASTM D 198)
 testing of representative, small, clear specimens (ASTM D 143)
 Testing of structural‐size members is more important –

more applicable to design values
 Tests include flexure, compression, tension, etc.
 Flexure test is more commonly used than the other tests
 Two‐point, third‐point, or center‐point loading
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 Strength of wood structures is usually controlled by the
joints and connections, which is the main concern of
structural wood design classes
 Have lots of experience with smaller structures
(residential, light commercial) so design is usually
empirical
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 For design of wood structures, strength properties (Tables
10.3 &10.4) must be adjusted for the following factors
Load duration Wet service
Temperature Beam stability
Size Volume (glulam only)
Flat use Curvature (glulam only)
Column stability Bearing area
Repetitive member (lumber only)
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Fungi caused dry rot Spruce Ips Beetle
Marine-borer damage to
a buried pile
Bacteria damage Termite damage

black heartwood
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1. Petroleum‐based Solutions
2. Waterborne Preservatives (Salts)
Application Techniques
• Superficial treatment: generally not effective
• Liquid penetration (pressure treating at high temp., heat, &
moisture)
 Structural members need to be fabricated as much as possible before
treatment in order not to expose untreated wood by cutting, drilling holes,
etc.
 If not possible, treat cuts and holes with a liberal application of field
applied preservative
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 Made by bonding together wood strands, veneers,
lumber, or other forms of wood fibers to produce
large units
Engineered to produce specific and
consistent mechanical properties that are
better than natural large pieces
Very difficult and expensive to find high quality
large natural pieces
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Plywood
* Built up from odd number sheets of softwood veneer glued
together with waterproof adhesive
* Grain direction of each sheet is alternated and the panel is
symmetrical about the centerline
* Outer layers and all odd‐numbered layers generally have the grain
direction oriented parallel to the long‐direction of the panel
* Available in either metric or imperial sizes, common imperial
size is 4×8 ft
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 Plywood (Cont’d)
thin sheets (plies) glued
together with the grain at
right angles to each other so
it has the same properties
in both directions
veneer is peeled from a
soaked log on a giant lathe
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 Particle & strand board
Glue together wood scraps with resin to form sheets:
Particle board = sawdust sized particles
Chip board = randomly oriented wood chips
OSB = wood chips & strands oriented in specific
direction
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 Floor joists
made with two 2x4s or
2x6s as flanges and an OSB
web
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Glulam (glue‐laminated timber)
 Introduced in Europe in the late 19th century
 Manufactured by gluing together lumber
laminations with a waterproof adhesive
under pressure
 Grain of all laminations run parallel with
the long direction
 Stronger in longitudinal direction and
weaker in transverse direction
 High‐grade lumber is placed near the
surface, and low‐grade for the center
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 Glue‐Laminated Timbers (Cont’d)
Used for structural members, furniture,
sports equipment, and decorative wood
finishes
preferred because:
ease of manufacturing large members
from standard commercial lumber
can vary the cross section along the length
special architectural designs
can use lower wood grade in less stressed areas
minimizes shrinkage defects
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CHAPTER 10

 Exogenous (outward growth): e.g., most other trees

 Shrinkage, strength, & weight depend on moisture

water inside cell

 Heavy timber – 4x6, 6x6, 8x8 and larger

 Engineered wood products

Live (Plain) Sawing Quarter Sawing Combination

Flat‐Sawn Rift‐Sawn Quarter‐Sawn

 Raised, loosened, or fuzzy grain

 Dry density = usually 20‐45 lb/ft3 (300‐700 kg/m3)

 Testing of structural‐size members is more important –

Bacteria damage Termite damage

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