Open Access
ARTICLE
Strength Degradation of Wood Members Based on the Correlation of Natural and Accelerated Decay Experiments
Xueliang Wang1, Qiangang Xu1, Xiuxin Wang1, Junhui Guo2, Wancheng Cao1, Chun Xiao3,*
1 Hubei Key Laboratory of Roadway Bridge & Structure Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
2 School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
3 School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
* Corresponding Author: Chun Xiao. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Bio-composite Materials and Structures)
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(5), 565-577. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09020
Received 04 November 2019; Accepted 16 January 2020; Issue published 29 April 2020
Abstract
An accelerated decay test and a natural decay test were conducted synchronically to explore the strength degradation of decaying wood members under
long-term exposure to natural environment. A natural decay test was carried out to
measure the bending strength, compressive strength parallel to grain and modulus
of elasticity of the wood members, with 6 groups of specimens decayed in natural
environment for 3 to 18 months respectively. To compare with corresponding
decay test, in which 6 other groups of specimens were measured under accelerated
conditions. The experimental data collected were evaluated by Pearson productmoment for the correlation. The results indicate that the mechanical properties
of the accelerated decay were highly correlated with those in natural environment,
both of which decreased in the same trend. Under the given test conditions, the
mean value of the accelerated decay test data were curve-fitted to achieve the
time-dependent degradation model of the bending strength, the compressive
strength parallel to grain, as well as the modulus of elasticity. Due to the high correlation, the acceleration shift factors (ASF) of the two tests were derived, where
the bending strength of 2.934, the compressive strength parallel to grain of 2.519
and the elastic modulus of 2.346 were employed to formulate the strength degradation models in the long-term natural environment. The results verify that the
exponential function σ = σ
0e
-βt enables to exactly capture the degradation of
the mechanical properties of wood members decayed in natural environment.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Wang, X., Xu, Q., Wang, X., Guo, J., Cao, W. et al. (2020). Strength Degradation of Wood Members Based on the Correlation of Natural and Accelerated Decay Experiments.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(5), 565–577. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09020
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