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.     

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 II: a new method for fatigue life prediction

For plywood specimens under shear through the thickness, a fatigue life prediction method based on strain energy has been newly developed with the fatigue process and failure criterion applicable to various loading conditions. Once the fatigue process and failure criterion of the plywood specimen were determined by the fatigue data measured under a loading condition other than the square loading waveform, the fatigue life of a specimen under various loading conditions could be predicted easily and accurately by the first cycle loading test. The relationship between stress level and the predicted fatigue life was also similar to that between stress level and the experimentally determined fatigue life. The fatigue life prediction method proposed may be widely applicable to the prediction of the fatigue life of solid wood and wood composites.     

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.     

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.     

Effect of load type on failure mechanisms of spruce in compression parallel to grain

Failure mechanisms of small clear specimens (6×6×24 mm) of air-dried black spruce (Picea mariana) under parallel-to-grain compression were investigated by polarised-light microscopy. Fatigue load was used with a peak stress level of 90% static strength, a load frequency of 0.5 Hz, and a square waveform with a duty ratio of 0.50. Matched pure creep and static load tests were carried out. Damage was quantified in terms of the permanent microstructural changes (kinks) in tracheid walls. In static load tests, kinks develop quickly with any increase in stress beyond the limit of proportionality. In creep tests, damage develops mainly from kinks formed during the initial load application. In fatigue tests, damage develops both from kinks formed during the initial load cycle, and kinks formed during subsequent cycles. The number of kinks exhibits a strong relationship with relative cyclic creep or relative creep.     

Tree Stability in Relation to Cyclic Loading

The mechanical behaviour of the soil-root systems of Sitka sprucetrees growing on a peaty gley was measured under cyclic loading,using a specially designed apparatus. The trees were felledat a height of about 1.5 m above the soil surface before testingso that effects due to the stems and the crowns of the treeswere eliminated. The cyclic loading apparatus repeatedly pulledthe top of a stump by a set amount, between 5 mm and 100 mm,at a frequency of about 0.2 Hz. The force exerted on the stumpand the corresponding vertical displacement of the root platewere measured. During a cyclic loading episode, the peak loadin each cycle was less than the peak load in the previous cycle.The size of this difference became smaller with time and wasnegligible after about 25 cycles. The difference in load betweenthe start and end of each cyclic loading episode tended to increasewith stem displacement. A trench was dug around some trees sothat soil failure could be isolated from other effects and sometrees were tested without cyclic loading. Average maximum overturningmoment for the untrenched trees was 15 kN m. Trenching decreasedthis by an average of 10 kN m. Cyclic loading decreased thesoil resistance component of anchorage from 2.3 kN m to about1.7 kN m. The reduction in peak overturning moment with repeatedloading was associated with progressive failure of the anchorage,whereas the differences in anchorage strength between cyclicand static loading were associated mainly with energy dissipation.     

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.     

Duration-of-load and creep effects in strand-based wood composite: experimental research

The results from a duration-of-load and creep testing program on a thick strand-based composite product, using wood from forests attacked by the mountain pine beetle, are presented. The constant loading of experimental beams lasted for 1?year. The long-term deflection was monitored and recorded at a pre-set frequency. Time-to-failure data were also obtained for all the broken specimens. Ramp load test was carried out at different rates of loading to investigate its influence on short-term strength. Finally, the fatigue test was conducted with a triangular cyclic load history, and the strain history was obtained to elucidate the low-cycle fatigue behavior of the composite.     

Fatigue and creep of chipboard

Structural grade chipboard was subjected to fatigue and creep loads in four-point bending, the peak fatigue stress being equal to the constant creep stress. Peak fatigue stresses of 50, 60, 70 and 80% of the static bend strength were selected and an S-N (stress versus log₁₀ (cycles)) curve was generated. Stress versus strain hysteresis loops were captured automatically throughout fatigue tests so that underlying creep strain, dynamic modulus and energy dissipated per cycle were continuously monitored. The possibility of superimposing creep and fatigue data was investigated.The S-N curve generated at R = 0.01 demonstrates that for lives of less than 10⁷ cycles chipboard does not show a fatigue endurance limit. The 70 and 80% samples experience a gradual decrease in dynamic modulus and an increase in the area of the hysteresis loop during fatigue tests. Samples at the 50 and 60% levels show an initial increase in dynamic modulus before a decline to failure is observed.Creep samples never failed before fatigue samples at the same peak stress level, but until close to the point of failure, creep strains were nearly always greater than fatigue strains on elapsed time. It is concluded that the mechanism of fatigue damage accumulation differs from the mechanism of creep deformation.     

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     

The effect of compression and incision on wood veneer and plywood physical and mechanical properties

ABSTRACT

Drying takes the largest share of energy in plywood production, and varying moisture content of veneers necessitates re-drying that often leads to over-dry veneers with deactivated surfaces, which may promote imperfect bonding. In order to decrease the drying time, reduce the need for re-drying of veneers, and improve the quality of plywood, birch and spruce veneers were subjected to pre-treatment by cold compression, incision, or a combination of the two. The effects of pre-treatment on the veneer and plywood quality were assessed by standard tests. Compression had a beneficial effect on water removal of the wettest veneers (spruce sapwood (SW) and birch), but some thickness reduction was observed in the veneers as well as the finished birch plywood. Compression led to thickness reduction of spruce veneers, but had no effect on SW plywood thickness likely due to higher viscoelasticity. Both compression and the combination of incising and compression levelled the moisture variation within the compressed stacks. Incision improved the modulus of elasticity of birch plywood, shear strength of SW plywood, and both bending and shear strengths of heartwood plywood. Higher surface pressure decreased the drying time of spruce SW in both plain compression and combined incision and compression pre-treatment.     

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.     

Reliability analysis and duration-of-load strength adjustment factor of the rolling shear strength of cross laminated timber

In this study, the duration-of-load effect on the rolling shear strength of cross laminated timber (CLT), with different cross-sectional layups (five-layer and three-layer), was evaluated. A stress-based damage accumulation model is chosen to evaluate the duration-of-load strength adjustment factor of the rolling shear strength of CLT. This model incorporates the established short-term rolling shear strength of material and predicts the time to failure under arbitrary loading history. The model has been calibrated and verified based on the test data from low cycle trapezoidal fatigue tests (damage accumulation tests) in the previous study. The long-term rolling shear behaviour of CLT can then be evaluated from this verified model. As the developed damage accumulation model is a probabilistic model, it can be incorporated into a time based reliability assessment of the CLT products, considering short-term, snow, and dead load only loading cases. The reliability analysis results and factors reflecting the duration-of-load effect on the rolling shear strength of CLT are compared and discussed. The characteristic of this modeling theory lies in that the verified model is also able to predict the duration-of-load behaviour of CLT products under arbitrary loading history, such as long-term dead load case; then, these predictions of time to failure from the damage accumulation model can elucidate duration of load by the stress ratio evaluation approach. The results suggest that the duration-of-load rolling shear strength adjustment factor for CLT is more severe than the general duration-of-load adjustment factor for lumber; this difference should be considered in the introduction of CLT into the building codes for engineered wood design.     

Fatigue and creep in chipboard

Summary Structural grade chipboard used as floor decking can be exposed to a combination of creep loading, and fatigue loading at a wide range of frequencies. Creep loads are produced by static masses such as machinery. Fatigue loads arise from intermittent loads such as fork lift trucks in motion, people in motion, or vibrating machinery.Four-point bend tests in fatigue and creep have been performed simultaneously on matched sets of four structural grade chipboard samples. The aim was to examine the effect of frequency on the fatigue performance of chipboard by following the rate of microstrain development in each case at the same peak stress. The ratio of the minimum to the maximum fatigue stress (the R ratio) was set at R = 0.1. Fatigue tests were performed at three different frequencies classified as low, medium and high, determined by the rate of application of stress.The performance of chipboard in flooring applications is shown to be highly dependent on the loading frequency. Increasing the frequency increased the number of cycles to failure as did reducing the stress level. Using hysteresis loop capture to monitor damage accumulation during testing indicates that there is a fatigue limit for chipboard loaded at constant amplitude at some point just below 20% of its static bending strength.This research was supported by the Building Research Establishment who also supported the postgraduate case award in conjunction with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)     

Mechanical behavior of the crystal lattice of natural cellulose in wood under repeated uniaxial tension stress in the fiber direction

This study investigated the relationship between the cellulose crystal lattice strain (crystalline region) and the macroscopic surface strain in specimens of Chamaecyparis obtusa wood under repeated uniaxial tension stress in the fiber direction. Changes in the strain of the crystal lattice were measured from the peak of (004) reflection using the transit X-ray method. The macroscopic surface strain of each specimen was measured with a strain gauge. In both loading and unloading, the surface strain changed linearly with changes in stress. However, crystal lattice strain was not linear but exhibited changes along a curve with changing stress. Under stressed conditions, the crystal lattice strain was always less than the surface strain, regardless of the frequency of repetition in the loading and unloading cycle. The ratio of the crystal lattice strain to the surface strain showed a negative correlation for stress in both loading and unloading. That is, the ratio decreased with increasing stress, and finally tend to converge to a specific value. The ratio (I/I ₀) between the diffracted intensity (I ₀) in the (004) plane in the unloaded condition and the diffracted intensity (I) in the (004) plane in the loaded condition tend to converge on a specific value with increasing frequency of repetition. When the substantial tension Young’s modulus of the wood in the longitudinal direction decreased, the ratio of the strain of the crystal lattice to the surface strain also decreased. Moreover, the ratio decreased with increasing microfibril angle of the specimen.     

Influence of loading point on the static bending test of wood

We conducted three-point bending tests by changing the condition at the loading point and then examined the influence of the loading point on the test data. Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera L.) was used for the tests. First, using loading noses with various radii, static bending tests were conducted by varying the depth/span ratios. Deflections were measured from the displacement of the cross head and at the point against the loading nose: Young's and shear moduli were obtained from the modified Timoshenko's bending equation proposed in a previous paper. Then a similar testing procedure was undertaken by inserting cushion sheets of Teflon between the specimen and the nose. After the measuring these moduli, bending strengths were measured using the loading noses and cushion sheets. The following results were obtained: (1) When the deflection was measured from the displacement of the cross head, the radius of the loading nose had an influence on the additional deflection when the depth/span ratio was high, causing the dependence of the shear modulus on the radius. In contrast, the radius had little influence on the measurement of Young's modulus. By placing cushion sheets between the nose and the specimen, the effect of the radius was moderated. When the deflection was measured at the point against the loading nose, the radius of the nose had little influence on the additional deflection; hence the loading nose had little influence when obtaining Young's and shear moduli. This tendency was commonly observed regardless of whether the cushion sheets were in place. (2) When the specimen had a high depth/span ratio, the bending strength increased with the increase in the radius of the loading nose. However, the influence of the radius was small when the specimen had a low depth/span ratio. There was no significant effect of the cushion sheets used here on the measurement of bending strength.Part of this paper was presented at the 48th annual meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Shizuoka, April 1998     

竹片覆面胶合板的初步研究

本文研究了以竹片为外层材料、多层杨木单板为芯层材料的复合胶合板的结构和力学性能，分析了板坯结构形式、纵向纵片厚度、单板层数及板坯压缩率与产品机械强度之间的关系。初步研究结果表明，板坯结构形式对产品的静载荷抗弯曲性能影响显著；在试验范围内，纵向竹片厚度为３．５－５．０ｍｍ、板坯压缩率在２３％左右时，竹片覆盖面杨木胶合板的综合力学性能比较理想。     

Effect of element type on the internal bond quality of wood-based panels determined by three methods

Three mechanical tests with different loading modes were conducted to evaluate the effect of element type on the internal bond quality of wood-based panels. In addition to the internal bond test, which is commonly used for mat-formed panels, interlaminar and edgewise shear tests were used to test oriented strandboard (OSB), particleboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF) of two thicknesses, and plywood. The following results were obtained. Epoxy resin proved to be suitable for determining the interlaminar shear modulus instead of hot-melt glue. There was a linear relation between panel density and interlaminar shear modulus and a linear correlation between the interlaminar shear strength and internal bond (IB) strength for the mat-formed panels tested. OSB had the highest edgewise shear modulus, and MDFs had the highest edgewise shear strength in this study. The modulus/strength ratio also depended on both panel type and loading mode. The relation between the shear moduli determined from the edgewise and interlaminar tests indicated the characteristics of the shear properties of panels made of different elements.Part of this paper was presented at the Fourth International Wood Science Symposium, Serpong, Indonesia, September 2002     

疲劳／蠕变交互作用下塑木地板的断裂机理

对塑木地板进行抗弯性能测试,分别选取25％和75％两种应力水平进行疲劳／蠕变试验。研究了塑木地板在疲劳／蠕变复合作用下的断裂机理。结果表明：随着应力水平的增加,蠕变应变也随之增加,75％应力水平时产生的应变为25％应力水平时的3倍;其疲劳／蠕变曲线与纯蠕变曲线十分相似;在25％的应力水平作用后,材料的剩余抗弯强度为原来的94％～97％。