Your search resulted in 353 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.
Service life planning of wooden structures: Mathematical prediction models versus professional experience
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20663
During the last 15 years, enormous efforts have been made in developing models for predicting the service life of wooden structures and components. Currently, a framework of how exposure, dimension, design details and the material-intrinsic and the ability to take up and release water can be linked to model the moisture risk in wood products is in principle available.
The aim of this study was to...
C Brischke, J Niklewski, M Humar, G Alfredsen
Identification of Antifungal Compounds in Konjac Flying Powder and Assessment against Wood Decay Fungi
2019 - IRG/WP 19-30737
The antifungal activity of konjac (Amorphophallus rivieri) flying powder (a by-product produced during mechanical processing of konjac flour) ethanol extract was evaluated against wood decay fungi in culture. Compounds associated with antifungal activity in the extracts were isolated and purified by silica gel column chromatography. The antifungal active fractions were identified by ultra-high-per...
Z Bi, F Yang, Y Lei, J J Morrell, L Yan
Durability and climate change - implications for wood building structures
2019 - IRG/WP 19-50361
Sustainable building practices are rooted in the need for reliable information on the long-term performance of building materials; specifically, the expected service-life of building materials, components, and assemblies. This need is ever more evident given the anticipated effects of climate change on the built environment and the many governmental initiatives world-wide focused on ensuring that ...
M Lacasse
Modelling decay rates of timber exposed above ground on four different continents
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20670
Durability performance data from an international decking trial were analysed to explore relationships with climate variables, particularly those related to temperature and rainfall. Matched decking samples of slash pine (Pinus elliottii) sapwood and heartwood, spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris) were exposed to the weather above...
L P Francis, J J Morrell, C Brischke, P B Van Niekerk, J Norton
Future development of durability assessment of wood, according to typical usage of preservative-treated wood and naturally durable wood in Japan
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20675
A market of preserved wood products in Japan has two unique histories. First is the market shift to residential ground sills from utility poles and sleepers; the other is the stop of CCA treatment caused by the new effluent standard. In 2018, around 85% of preserved wood products used for residential ground sills were treated with non-CCA such as Cu-based agents. Since the market of treated wood h...
T Osawa, W Ohmura, H Kurisaki
Application of an Ultrasound-based Instrument to Evaluate Condition of Drywood Termite Infested Timber Components
2022 - IRG/WP 22-11000
The characteristics of ultrasound waves propagation from non-destructive ultrasound-based instrument on drywood termite infested wooden components were investigated. Features of wave propagation such as time-of-flight, velocity, and peak energy on three orthogonal wooden plane (longitudinal, radial, and transversal) were studied. The wooden components used on this study came from a traditional woo...
S Fauziyyah, L Karlinasari, D Nandika, R Wimmer
Significance of the thermal design and the sorption isotherm shape in hygroscopic wood moisture dynamics and service life
2022 - IRG/WP 22-20682
Moisture dynamics are considered important for predicting the service performance of wood in exterior applications. Above a critical moisture content, water acts a softener on the structural polymer matrix of the wood cell wall, enabling the necessary diffusion of molecular species involved in the fungal degradation mechanism of wood. Water may enter solid wood in either liquid form or in vapor fo...
W Willems
Using satellite-retrieved soil moisture data to model the decay risk of in-ground timber
2022 - IRG/WP 22-20689
Satellite-derived soil moisture data from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) was extracted for a 9 x 9 km point grid over Europe. The data was then used as input to a dose-response wood decay model based on terrestrial microcosm (TMC) tests. The resulting hazard map plotted dose as an indicator of in-ground wood decay based on differences in annual temperature and soil moisture characteristic...
P B van Niekerk, M Schönauer, B N Marais, C Brischke
Biological assessment of bio-based phase change materials in wood for construction applications
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40935
Solid wood can serve multi-functionality for energy savings in buildings. The study reveals the results of bio-deterioration and degradation of solid Scots pine wood used to incorporate single or multicomponent fatty acid mixtures as bio-based phase change materials (BPCMs). The sapwood samples were impregnated with capric acid (CA), methyl palmitate (MP), lauryl alcohol (LA) and a mixture of coco...
S Palanti, A Temiz, G Köse Demirel, G Hekimoğlu, A Sari, M Nazari, J Gao, M Jebrane, T Schnabel, N Terziev
Premature adhesion failure of exterior wood coatings – The influence of substrate temperature at coating application and moisture accumulation during storage
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40937
The present study aimed at extending the knowledge about premature coating failures of industrially finished wood cladding. Two potential factors were studied: the influence of substrate temperature at coating application and moisture accumulation during storage on the adhesion of waterborne coating systems. In the first experiment, 4 batches of wood specimens were submitted to 4 different tempera...
U Hundhausen
Assessment of the Material Durability and Structural Integrity of the Wooden Velodrome in Češča vas, Slovenia
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11012
Wood is a widely used material in the construction industry, and it has been utilized for thousands of years to create buildings and other structures. When wooden structures are designed, built, and maintained properly, they can be safe and long-lasting. Sports facilities, which provide athletes with a space to train, compete, and improve their abilities, are crucial in creating a strong and susta...
D Kržišnik, M Humar, B Lesar
Simulations of microclimates for wood-decaying fungi in the built environment using environmental analysis
2023 - IRG/WP 23-20703
Simulations of fungal decay risk were run on two similar building geometries exposed to typical annual climate conditions of two different geographical locations, Brunswick (Germany) and Cairns (Australia). The simulations were conducted to capture the effect of wind-driven rain and solar irradiation exposure over nodes of the common building geometry. The moisture content and temperature variatio...
P B van Niekerk, J Niklewski, S H Hosseini, B N Marais, I Frimannslund, T Kringlebotn Thiis, C Brischke
Performance of a noise barrier with different wood materials – results from a service trial after 25 years of exposure
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30776
In connection with the construction of the railway connection between Stockholm Arlanda airport and Stockholm city, an 11 km long noise barrier made of untreated European larch was built along the railway line. This provided an opportunity to implement a full-scale study comparing different untreated wood species and preservative treatments. Thus, in March 1996 ten test sections including untreate...
J Jermer, M Westin
Biological durability and wood-water interactions of sorbitol and citric acid modified wood – Effects on the expected service life
2023 - IRG/WP 23-40960
A high level of research activities on sorbitol and citric acid (SorCA) modified wood has been recognized in Europe over the last few years. As this treatment is close to entering an industrial-scale production, it is of interest to investigate how such treated wood performs upon long-term outdoor exposure. Hence, in this study Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood was modified with aqueous sol...
K Kurkowiak, L Emmerich, H Militz
Towards a microactuator-sensing network for the structural health monitoring of wood
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50380
Timber structures decay over time with degradation in their structural integrity. Changing environmental conditions, varying loads, exposure to moisture or insect attacks lead to changes in their vibrational response behaviour. Here we present a low-cost device used as a triggered exciter to enable the monitoring of the structural integrity of timber bearers or even power poles in electricity netw...
S Oberst, S Sepehrirahnama, C Nerse, Z Brodzeli, J C S Lai, M Mankowski, T Atkinson, R Arango, G Kirker, T Evans
Manipulation of the hierarchical wood structure for extended carbon storage in the built environment
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50381
The sustainable processing of trees into construction materials can act as carbon storage. Carbon storage in durable sustainable wooden construction material has cumulative effects and net gain in storage in the built environment that can be offset by net losses in forest carbon by cutting the tree. Carbon storage for an extended period plays an important role in the mitigation of CO2 emissions an...
T Singh, A Arpanaei, D Elustondo, Q Fu
End-of-life options for engineered wood products / Treated timber in a circular economy
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50383
Australians are excellent consumers of products. These products ultimately end up as waste materials and need to go somewhere. Australia produces around 28 million tons of waste per year with around 50% currently ending up in landfill, including a significant amount of timber, engineered wood products (EWP’s), and preservative treated wood (PTW). Limited landfill capacity, increasing costs, and ...
H Brooke
Assessment of the condition of wooden mill in the area of Kovačevići in Bosnia and Herzegovina
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11030
An excellent example of cultural and technical heritage is almost 100 year old wooden mills near Cazin in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These mills played an important role, especially in times of Bosnian war (1992-95), when this region was cut off from electricity. The laboratory analysis revealed that the respective mill was made of chestnut (Castanea sativa) and oak (Quercus sp.) wood. The sufficient...
B Lesar, R Hasanagic, M Humar
Unlocking the potential of paulownia in Malaysia: Durability assessment to mold
2024 - IRG/WP 24-11043
Paulownia is one of the species included in the plantation program in Malaysia due to its fast growth (three to four years) and excellent properties suitable for wide application including furniture, biofuel, musical instruments, and decoration. However, data on its durability to biodegradation is scarce, especially for tropical usage. In this study, a paulownia clone known as Revotropix Paulownia...
S Lipeh, T Khadiran, N A Siam, R Jalil, N F N M Isa
Assessment of hydrophobic properties of acetylated and furfurylated Korean wood species
2024 - IRG/WP 24-30812
To increase the utilization of Korean wood species, the hydrophobic properties of the most commonly used wood species in Korea were compared according to wood modification. Pinus densiflora (sapwood and heartwood) and Larix kaempferi (heartwood) were selected as test wood species, and Pinus radiata (sapwood) was selected as the control wood species. The wood modification was performed by acetylati...
S-M Yoon, Y-S Choi, H-M Lee, Y Park, W-J Hwang, S-K Jang
How personality traits influence the perception of fungal decay in a wooden cladding – A survey in three Modelling wood moisture content in outdoor conditions from measured data
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41002
This study examined perceptions of fungal decay damage on wooden cladding across Norway, Sweden, and Germany. The majority of respondents across all countries did not find the fungal decay damage in question acceptable, with the least acceptance in Norway. This could be due to Norway having the highest frequency of wooden residential buildings and the most experience with maintaining wooden claddi...
G W Gustavsen, G Alfredsen, P B van Niekerk, J Niklewski, C Brischke
Modelling the service life of wood in ground contact – Verification of remotely sensed soil data from the reanalysis dataset ERA5-Land using in-situ measurements at a test site of utility poles in Eastern Norway
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41003
This study compared soil moisture and temperature estimates from the 5th European reanalysis (ERA5-Land) dataset with in-situ measurements to assess the accuracy and applicability of ERA5-Land data for modelling the service life of wood in ground contact. The ERA5-Land soil temperature estimates showed a moderate correlation with the in-situ temperature measurements (Spearman’s ρ of 0.73) and a...
U Hundhausen, P B van Niekerk, B Marais
Assessment of historical pilings from Lisbon
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41004
The renovation and rebuilding of areas in Lisbon has led to work on buildings constructed in the Pombaline downtown district. These buildings were constructed on wooden pilings, as a means of stabilising unstable soils and transfer the loads from buildings to soils with adequate bearing capacity. These methods also increased the resilience of the reconstruction works to future possible earthquakes...
D Jones, S Duarte, J A J Huber, L Nunes
Service life of poplar, a low durability hardwood
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41007
Hybrid poplar is the most common plantation hardwood of the temperate climate zone and is complementary to natural stands of aspen with mainly plantations in Europe and China. Poplar wood has been considered as a valid alternative for many of the construction applications of softwoods especially when considering engineered wood products.
The natural durability of hybrid poplar is low and for a ra...
J Van Acker, X Jiang, L De Ligne, J van den Bulcke
Changes in decay risk of wood in ground contact over Europe, from analysis of historic climate conditions
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41008
Changing climate conditions will affect global temperature and precipitation patterns, shifting some geographical areas into states that are more suitable for fungal wood decay. Climate normals, which are taken over a 30-year period, capture vast spatial and temporal variations in these conditions and comparing these can show changes over time. Importantly, being able to identify locations that ha...
P B van Niekerk, B N Marais, G Alfredsen, C Brischke