Fatigue of structural plywood under cyclic shear through thickness I: fatigue process and failure criterion based on strain energy

The fatigue behavior of plywood specimens under shear through thickness was examined on the basis of strain energy to obtain common empirical equations for the fatigue process and failure criterion under various loading conditions. Specimens were cut from commercial plywood panels of 9-mm thickness. Loading conditions were set as follows: a square waveform at a loading frequency of 0.5 Hz, a triangular waveform at 0.5 Hz, and a triangular waveform at 5.0 Hz. Peak stress applied was determined to be 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 of static strength, that is, stress levels of 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9. The stress-strain relationships were measured throughout the fatigue test, and the strain energy was obtained at each loading cycle. Loading conditions apparently affected the relationship between stress level and fatigue life. On the other hand, the relationship between mean strain energy per cycle and fatigue life was found to be independent of loading conditions. Mean strain energy per cycle obtained as the fatigue limit was 5.85 kJ/m³ per cycle. Assuming that the accumulation of strain energy is a fatigue indicator, the fatigue process and failure criterion for the plywood specimens under the three loading conditions were commonly expressed by the relationship between cumulative strain energy and loading cycles.     

Fatigue life of structural plywood under two-stage panel shear load: a new cumulative fatigue damage theory

The fatigue life of structural plywood under two-stage panel shear load was experimentally examined. Two experimental conditions were determined for two-stage fatigue of plywood specimen: one used variable applied stress and the other used variable stress, loading waveform, and loading frequency, because fatigue life of wood composite under constant load depended on loading waveform and loading frequency as well as stress level. The most famous cumulative fatigue damage theory is the Palmgren-Miner rule, which is the summation of the ratio of the applied loading cycle to the fatigue life under each loading stage. However, the applicability of this rule to the two-stage fatigue of wood composites has not been investigated. It was first demonstrated in this study that the fatigue life of the plywood specimen reached in the two-stage fatigue test did not obey the Palmgren-Miner rule. Here, we propose the new cumulative fatigue damage model by modification of the Palmgren-Miner rule on the basis of the assumption that fatigue damage accumulates with loading cycle on a logarithmic scale. The newly proposed model was in good agreement with the fatigue life reached in the two-stage fatigue test.     

Effect of loading frequency on fatigue life and dissipated energy of structural plywood under panel shear load

Wood-based panels are subjected to cyclic panel shear load caused by wind and seismic forces in such an application as the sheathing of bearing walls. The fatigue behavior of structural plywood under panel shear load with two different loading frequencies was examined. Pulsating panel shear load with a triangular waveform and loading frequency of 0.5 or 5 Hz was applied to the plywood specimens. Stress−strain hysteresis loops were measured throughout the fatigue tests. Fatigue life was highly dependent on loading frequency at more than 0.5 stress level. The deterioration of mechanical property and damage accumulation in plywood specimen was observed to be slower at higher loading frequency at more than 0.5 stress level. Analyses based on energy loss suggest that panel shear load with higher loading frequency causes less damage to the plywood specimen during one loading cycle at higher stress level, and that the fatigue damage accumulation causing failure might be dependent on stress level although it seems to be unaffected by loading frequency. Based on these results, a new fatigue failure model for plywood specimen was qualitatively developed by combining Weibull’s weakest link model and Daniels’ fiber bundle model.     

Fatigue of structural plywood under cyclic shear through thickness III: energy dissipation performance

Wood and wood composites have viscoelasticity, and show a hysteresis loop in the stress-strain relationship during cyclic loading such that part of the mechanical work applied is dissipated in the materials. In this study, the energy dissipation performance of plywood specimens under cyclic shear through thickness was investigated. Fatigue testing was conducted under three loading conditions: a square waveform at a loading frequency of 0.5 Hz, a triangular waveform at 0.5 Hz, and a triangular waveform at 5.0 Hz. The stress level was determined to be 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 of the static strength in shear through thickness. The energy dissipation ratio was defined as the ratio of energy loss per cycle to the strain energy per cycle, and was evaluated throughout the fatigue test. It was found that the energy dissipation ratio of a plywood specimen was kept constant during most of the fatigue process for a given stress level and loading condition. The energy dissipation performance was significantly dependent on stress level and loading condition, and became higher according to the damage intensity of cyclic load even if the same strain energy was applied.     

Shear strengths of wood measured by various short beam shear test methods

We conducted three types of short beam shear tests of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla Sarg.) under various span/depth ratios, and examined whether the maximum shear stress was used as the shear strength. The following results were obtained. (1) In the short beam shear tests under the three-point loading method, it was difficult to have the specimen failing by horizontal shear. We thought that this method should not be recommended for determining the shear strength of wood. (2) In the short beam shear tests under the asymmetric four-point loading of the specimen with a rectangular cross-section, the failure caused by horizontal shear occurred under some span/depth ratio range. Nevertheless, this range was dependent on the specimen geometry and was quite restricted. We therefore think that this method should not be recommended for determining the shear strength of wood. (3) In the short beam shear tests under the asymmetric four-point loading of the I-shaped specimen, failure caused by horizontal shear occurred under the span/depth ratio range wider than that applicable for the asymmetric four-point loading of the specimen with a rectangular cross-section. The maximum shear stress was stable in a certain span/depth ratio range and the value of the maximum shear stress is effective as a parameter for comparing the shearing strength of materials with each other.     

Formaldehyde emission from wood products: relationship between the values by the Chamber method and those by the Desiccator test

The formaldehyde off-gassing properties of various wood products were evaluated under environment conditions that simulate conditions of mobile home. The formaldehyde concentrations observed in the chamber were correlated to the 24-h desiccator formaldehyde potentials. It was found that 24-h desiccator values did correlate to formaldehyde levels in the chamber at a given temperature, relative humidity, air change rate, and sample loading. The 24-h desiccator method correlated to each other for a given wood product. Formaldehyde levels of wood products tested in combination reflected the levels of the highest single emitter. Formaldehyde concentrations from combinations of particleboards and plywood panels may be predicted from their single chamber K factor using the modified Hoetjer equation. Double loading of a single wood product did not double the chamber concentration at the low air change rate and sample loading. Finally, the formaldehyde concentrations observed in the chamber under conditions that simulated mobile loadings of wood product, air change rate, temperature, and humidity relate to real wood formaldehyde levels.     

Acoustoelastic birefringence effect in wood III: ultrasonic stress determination of wood by acoustoelastic birefringence method

Stress conditions produced in wood were analyzed by means of the acoustoelastic birefringence method. Bending load was applied against a wood beam specimen. Under loading, ultrasonic shear waves were propagated through the breadth direction of the wood beam specimen. The velocities of shear waves polarized in the longitudinal or tangential direction of the wood beam specimen were measured with the sing-around method. Bending stresses were determined by dividing the difference between the acoustic anisotropy and the texture anisotropy by the acoustoelastic birefringence coefficient. Shear stresses were also determined. These stress distributions of the beam specimen were in good agreement with those obtained by the strain gauge method and mechanical calculation.     

Compressive fatigue in wood

Summary  An investigation of fatigue failure in wood subjected to load cycles in compression parallel to grain is presented. Small clear specimens of spruce are taken to failure in square wave formed fatigue loading at a stress excitation level corresponding to 80% of the short term strength. Four frequencies ranging from 0.01 Hz to 10 Hz are used. The number of cycles to failure is found to be a poor measure of the fatigue performance of wood. Creep, maximum strain, stiffness and work are monitored throughout the fatigue tests. Accumulated creep is suggested identified with damage and a correlation is observed between stiffness reduction and accumulated creep. A failure model based on the total work during the fatigue life is rejected, and a modified work model based on elastic, viscous and non-recovered viscoelastic work is experimentally supported, and an explanation at a microstructural level is attempted. The outline of a model explaining the interaction of the effect of load duration and the effect of the loading sequences is presented. Received 8 December 1997     

Evaluation of a modified Iosipescu shear test method for determining the shear properties of clear wood

A modified Iosipescu shear test method is proposed as an alternative for measuring the shear properties of clear wood. The method adopts four-point asymmetric loading procedure in the Iosipescu shear test but with the loading positions shifted to the neutral axis of the specimen. The original V-notched specimen is replaced by a combination of polyvinyl chloride blocks at two ends and a bow-tie-shaped wood specimen in the middle to provide a better stress pattern at failure. The measured shear strength and shear moduli are compared with results from compression test and off-axis tension test. Finite element analysis is also carried out to study the stress distribution in the wood specimen. Results show that the new shear test setup can provide close-to pure shear stress state in the specimen yielding better estimates of the shear properties of wood. The shear strength obtained by the new test setup is slightly lower than that from the off-axis tensile test which is probably due to the relatively thick specimen chosen in this study.     

Effect of moisture content on fatigue behavior in the non-linear region for wood

Summary For oven-dried wood applied non-linear deflection, the temperature rising AT was constant after the initially slight temperature rising, and then arose immediately before fatigue failure. Moreover, there was not the rapid reduction of dynamic stress as observed for moist wood. On the other hand, the process to fatigue failure for various moist wood depended upon the moisture content. For heating vs. moisture content, the heating increased with moisture content up to 13 to 20%, while it decreased gradually above 20%. The processes to fatigue failure at more than 13% moisture content were similar to one another. These results were explained on energy balance between the heating due to flexibility of moist molecules in wood substances and the energy consumption for moisture movement and vaporization. The present results supported the mechanism of fatigue behavior in the non-linear region which was proposed in the previous report.     

火炬松旋切及单板质量与木材性质关系的研究

鉴于对国产火炬松木材性质和胶合板制造技术研究甚少的现状，本试验检测了火炼松的木材密度、硬度及横纹抗弯性能，同时采用不同的旋切参数进行单板旋切试验。在试验的基础上研究了木材性质瑟旋切条件和单板质量的关系。结果表明：木材的密度、硬度和横纹抗弈性能与旋切条件和单板质量有着密切的关系；采用适宜的旋切条件，可以得到质量较好的单板，火炬松单板旋切是可行的。     

Dynamic responsive characteristics of nailed plywood–timber joints under harmonic vibrations

Dynamic tests of nailed plywood–timber joints are conducted under harmonic vibrations from 2 to 7 Hz. The principal results are as follows: under dynamic loading, nailed plywood–timber joints may break in low-cyclic bending fatigue failure of nails besides the other failure modes typical under static loading. The dynamic response of nailed plywood–timber joints is clearly dependent upon both the input frequency and the acceleration. These responsive characteristics arise from the nonlinear load–slip relationships and the characteristic cyclic stiffness degradation of nailed joints; that is, the cyclic degradation of the equivalent linear stiffness decreases the resonant frequencies of the same joints, which results in a transition of dynamic responses. It indicates that frequency components of seismic waves resonant to the frequencies corresponding to safety-limit stiffness of nailed joints may lead them to critical failures, even if the accelerations do not exceed the accelerations equivalent to the static damage-limit resistance.     

Estimation of failure lifetime in plywood-to-timber joints with nails and screws under cyclic loading

The performance of plywood-sheathed shear walls is determined at the plywood-to-timber joints. In joints with dowel-type fasteners, such as nails and screws, the fastener is fractured under reversed cyclic loading (e.g., seismic force), reducing the ductility of the joint. The fracture is caused by low-cycle fatigue due to the reversed cyclic bending of the fastener. Therefore, evaluating the fatigue life is important for estimating the ultimate displacement. The main objective of this study is to estimate the ultimate displacement of the joints and to enable load–displacement calculation of single shear joints under reversed cyclic displacement when bending fatigue failure of the fastener occurs. Single shear tests were conducted under different loading protocols, and the damage performances of the fasteners were determined by subjecting them to reversed cyclic bending tests. Based on the results, the failure lifetimes of joints with dowel-type fasteners were estimated. In addition, the fracture mechanism of these dowel-type fasteners was elucidated. CN50-type nails and wood screws with dimensions of 4.1?×?38 and 4.5?×?50 mm were used as fasteners. The single shear tests showed that the smaller the displacements per cycle, the lower are the ultimate displacement and ductilities of the joints. Moreover, load–displacement relationship up to fastener failure can be approximately estimated by combining the yield model and failure lifetime.     

Creep and stress relaxation behavior for natural cellulose crystal of wood cell wall under uniaxial tensile stress in the fiber direction

We investigated the temporal changes in creep and stress relaxation behavior in both microscopic crystalline cellulose and macroscopic strain of wood specimen using Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Endl.) to understand the viscoelastic properties of wood cell walls. Specimens 600 µm in thickness were observed by the X-ray diffraction and submitted to tensile load. The crystal lattice strain of (004) plane and macroscopic strain of specimen were continuously detected during creep and stress relaxation tests. It was found that the creep compliance based on macroscopic strain showed a gradual increase after instantaneous deformation due to loading and then the parts of creep deformation remained as permanent strain after unloading. On the other hand, crystal lattice strain showed a different behavior for macroscopic strain; it kept a constant value after instantaneous deformation due to loading and then increased gradually after a certain period of time. These differences between macroscopic and microscopic levels were never found in the stress relaxation tests in this study. Relaxation modulus at the macroscopic level only showed a decreasing trend throughout the relaxation process. However crystal lattice strain kept a constant value during the macroscopic relaxation process. In addition, the microfibril angle (MFA) of wood cell wall has a role of mechanical behavior at microscopic level; crystal lattice strains were smaller with increasing MFA at both creep and relaxation processes. Creep compliance and stress relaxation modulus at the macroscopic level decreased and increased with increasing MFA, respectively. Our results on the viscoelastic behavior at microscopic level evidenced its dependency on MFA.     

Acoustic emission analysis of industrial plywood materials exposed to destructive tensile load

Several plywood materials made from spruce wood and, for comparison, solid spruce wood were investigated focusing on the sub-macroscopic damage evolution during tensile loading of the specimens. The destructive tests were simultaneously monitored by the acoustic emission (AE) method and strain field deformation measurement using digital image correlation (DIC). The bilinear interpretation of exponential defect growth identified the start of significant nonlinear behavior at 70 % of ultimate strength for all plywood materials. However, already the preceding and more stable damage evolution at lower stress levels has indicated a variation in intensity of the source mechanisms evaluated by AE energy of the detected events. Additional information on the formation of strain field concentration, which correlates with discrete accumulation in AE events and increased spreading in the distribution of AE energy, reveals the complexity of pre-damage due to the variation in cracks’ magnitude and timescales involved. The correlation between ultimate tensile strength and damage accumulation below 70 % of ultimate strength is determined, as well as the influence of layered structures on damage size shown by the percentage distribution of AE energy.     

木材干燥应力连续监测方法的研究

本文在卡普法的基础上，提出了木材干燥应力连续监测方法，并设计了所需的配套装置。该方法采用涡流传感器对干燥过程中卡普片的矢高进行连续测试，同时通过计算机自动采集、存储数据。结果表明：矢高与干燥时间存在精密的相关性，它们之间的相关系数大部分达到0．99以上，从而实现了木材干燥应力的自动与连续监测。     

A stress transformation approach to predicting the failure mode of wood

Summary A simple model, based on the use of transformations of second-order tensors, is presented in this paper to predict the failure mode of wood members stressed in various degrees of parallel-and perpendicular-to-grain tension and parallel-to-grain shear. This type of loading is indicative of structural wood members with cross grain or grain deviations in the vicinity of knots subjected to bending or tension. The model is based on the assumptions that failure is dictated by the presence of any of the aforementioned stresses that exceed the clear wood strength in that mode and that failure does not result from stress interactions. The magnitudes of the applied stresses are normalized relative to the wood strength in that mode. The ratio of applied stress to material strength that is greatest at any particular angle of load to grain is presumed to be the failure mode at that angle. To verify model predictions, optical and microscopic analyses of surfaces of failed specimens loaded in uniaxial tension at angles between 0° and 90° to grain were compared to previously obtained, or otherwise known, surfaces of specimens tested in tension and shear. Specimens tested at various angles to grain demonstrated failed surfaces very much like those associated with specimens loaded in the modes predicted by the model.     

Effect of fatigue and annual rings’ orientation on mechanical properties of wood under cross-grain uniaxial compression

The mechanics of fresh wood with and without a fatigue pre-treatment that mimics a mechanical pulping process was experimentally studied. The mechanical properties of Norway spruce samples under compression are considered with the macroscopic stress–strain data and from local strain properties via digital image correlation technique. The results highlight the effects of the orientation of the wood annual rings compared to the loading direction and of the pre-fatigue. The wood presents a low yield point when the annual rings are tilted compared to the load axis, but the Young’s modulus and yield stress are higher when the annual rings are either parallel or perpendicular to the load direction. In the last case, buckling of softest layers occurs. The fatigue treatment makes the wood less stiff as deduced from the decreases of Young’s modulus and yield stress, whatever the orientation of annual rings. Secondly, it creates a thin and localized softened layer.     

杨木胶合板沙发框架的制作工艺与结构性能分析

介绍杨木胶合板应用于沙发框架的制作工艺及结构性能。以杨木胶合板沙发框架实例,进行了角部接合抗弯刚度和整体耐久性的试验。结果表明:杨木胶合板替代实木应用于沙发框架的生产,能充分体现出板式零部件曲(直)边组合及叠加的造型优势,沙发框架整体具有稳定的力学性能。     

An experimentally validated fatigue model for wood subjected to tension perpendicular to the grain

This study presents an experimental investigation of fatigue in wood subjected to tension perpendicular to the grain. The study has been designed with special reference to the influence of the frequency of loading. The investigation reveals an interaction between number of load oscillations and accumulated time under load to failure. This interaction corresponds to frequency dependent fatigue. Current models for damage accumulation and failure modelling are screened with respect to their ability to account for such “two-source” damage. The Damaged cracked viscoelastic material model proved to give a good basis.