Assessing Scots pine timber quality

Recently I gave a presentation on the mechanical properties of Scots pine at the one-day seminar on Scots pine timber quality in north Scotland that was hosted by Forestry Commission, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. All the presentations from this event are available by clicking here. In addition, I help to co-author a Research Note with Elspeth Macdonald, Tom Connolly and Barry Gardiner from Forest Research which describes the development of methods for assessing the quality of Scots pine timber. An electronic version of this publication (FCRN005) can be downloaded free of charge here.

SIRT at the Botanic Gardens

John Moore, Stefan Lehneke and myself were at Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens last Sunday (the 8th November) giving a free walk-in workshop for children and parents about the science of wood. This included viewing wood under microscopes, converstations about wood species and properties, and a 3D slideshow. We'll be there again (in the new John Hope Visitors' Centre) on Saturday 21st November from 1pm until 4pm.

Wood NDT conference

I attended in the 16th International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium in Beijing this month and presented a paper about the work we have been doing in the UK using acoustic tools to study the variation in wood properties and the potential for resource segregation.

The conference also included presentations on grading and inspection of components, structures and trees and enabled SIRT to create new links with researchers working around the world on topics of interest to us. The next conference in this series will be in Sopron, Hungary 5th-7th September 2011.

UKTGC and BSI B/518

We are very pleased to have been invited onto the UK Timber Grading Committee and British Standards Committee B/518 (structual timber). This will help us keep informed of the latest developments in codes and standards related to grading and to provide input based on our research findings. We will also keep you informed through this blog. The next meetings are 4th and 5th November.

COST E53 conference - more details

We are pleased to be hosting the final meeting of COST Action E53 at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh from the 4-7th May 2010. The conference is focused on issues of quality control for wood & wood products including:

* Scanning of stems, logs and boards for characterisation of geometrical and quality properties.
* Wood drying, distortion and determination of moisture content.
* Assessment of strength, stiffness and visual appearance of timber and wood products.
* Understanding end user requirements for wood and wood products.
* Future trends in technology, wood characteristics, and end user requirements.

There will be two days of particular interest to industry where we hope to be able to disseminate the results of the four years of pan European research cooperation in this COST Action - and also get feedback and discussion from producers and end users. These days are the 'industry day' (5th May 2010) and a half day workshop by the European Wood Drying Group (4th May 2010).

For more details of the themes and programme please visit http://cte.napier.ac.uk/e53

COST E53 conference

We will be hosting the final COST E53 conference in Edinburgh from the 4th to the 7th May 2010 at Our Dynamic Earth. The first two days will be particularly interesting for industry practitioners covering topics related to log scanning, grading, wood drying and general timber quality.

More details will follow shortly.

NOCMAT 2009

In September we will be presenting a paper at the 11th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2009) in Bath.

The paper, entitled "Strategic Integrated Research in Timber: Getting the most out of the UK’s timber resource" will be placed in our online repository after the conference. Here is the abstract:

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is the United Kingdom’s main commercial tree species accounting for nearly one-third of the UK's total woodland area and half of its conifer estate. Sawn timber from this species readily grades to the C16 strength class, but there are factors beyond the structural grade that can influence its acceptance as a construction material. This paper summarises the results from resource characterisation studies that have investigated the properties of Sitka spruce at the standing-tree scale down to the scale of a few microns. These studies have substantially improved the understanding of the impact on mechanical performance of structural timber of factors at the micro-structural level (e.g. cellulose structure and abundance) and at the forest-level (e.g. genetics, the environment and forest management). End-user requirements for timber are discussed in terms of what is, and is not, provided by current grading practice and some of the main misconceptions about UK-timber are challenged.

Short KTPs with the SIRT team

Short KTPs are an extension of the highly successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme and will be launched on 1st July.

Like regular KTPs, these "short KTPs" involve a company and a Higher Education Institute (e.g. University) working together on a project driven by the business needs of the company. Funding is a combination of public sector and company money - Government grants of 40 to 60% will be available. The person who works directly on the project can already be an employee of the company or University.

The SIRT team has already worked with companies through the existing KTP scheme in which projects normally last two years. The new short KTPs are designed to tackle shorter-term, more tactical, company needs. The project duration will typically be between 10 and 40 weeks. Both schemes are available throughout the UK.

Anyone interested in working with us through short or regular KTPs, can contact the Centre for Timber Engineering's Alastair Stupart on 0131 455 2831 or by email at a.stupart@napier.ac.uk.

SIRT to bring COST E53 meeting to Scotland

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting the final COST E53 conference in Edinburgh in either the first or second week of May, 2010. This will also include a meeting of the European Wood Drying Group (EDG). Watch this space for more details. If you have any ideas about what the conference should involve, please get in touch.

Before then there will be a conference in Lisbon titled "Technical and Economic Aspects" on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2009.

SIRT image gallery

There is now a flickr group dedicated to the SIRT project where you can see photos of our various activities, find out more about what we do, and see the equipment we use.

Please contact us if you'd like to use an image for something. If you are looking for photos to use for educational purposes you should also take a look at the Trees and Timber Education group.

Pan-European survey of end user requirements for sawn timber products (extended)

COST Action E53, the European scientific network for enhancing forest products and services, has extended the closing date for its online survey into the demands and expectations that end users impose on various timber products.

The survey can be accessed online at http://coste53.questionpro.com/ until 31st May 2009.

Random acts of elasticity: MoE, G and EN408

Later this month I'm travelling to Bled in Slovenia to attend the Cost E53 working group meetings and wood drying seminar. I'll be presenting a poster entitled "Random acts of elasticity: MoE, G and EN408" which looks at the variation in modulus of elasticity (MoE) and shear modulus (G) within sawn timber and the implications for testing timber in accordance with EN408:2003 ...which ties in nicely with the draft revision of EN408 (09/30159969 DC), in which a new torsion testing method to obtain G replaces the old flexural method.

The main reason for the difference between global and local MoE is not shear, but the variation of MoE within a specimen. This raises serious doubts as to whether the current methods provided in EN408 for estimating G from bending tests are valid.

Furthermore, the practice of correcting global MoE based on an assumed value of G that is proportional to MoE would not work for individual specimens because MoE and G are not correlated.

The exact location of low stiffness defects within the central span has a large influence on the value of local MoE obtained. Global MoE is less sensitive and, perhaps counter intuitively, may be a better measure of wood stiffness. The scale of such a defect relative to the span explains how species and size influence MoE comparisons

You can download the full paper here, the poster here, and play with an interactive simulation of a four point bending test here.

Scotland - Powerhouse of Genius

As part of Edinburgh's Science Festival the City Arts Centre is holding an exhibition about the 'incredible renewable revolution' that is going in in Scotland. The exhibition, which is part sponsored by Forestry Commission Scotland, includes a couple of our photos...look out for them :-)

You can see more photos from the SIRT project in our Flickr group.

Focus on: Batten testing

One of the key pieces of equipment in our state-of-art climate controlled timber testing laboratory is our Zwick Z050. This class 0.5 computer controlled 50kN capacity universal testing machine can be used for a variety of tests, but is used mainly for four-point bending tests of sawn timber to measure stiffness (Modulus of Elasticity, MoE) and strength (Modulus of Rupture, MoR) in accordance with the EN408 standard. We are able to measure global and local MoE simultaneously and have designed our own zero-friction lateral torsional buckling restraint (nicknamed the 'jock-strap') to minimise measurement errors due to instability and distortion.

You can see the machine in action in several videos we've made, incuding these two made for school children through the firrs project.





The machine is available for commercial testing. Contact Dan Ridley-Ellis or John Moore for details.

Sitka spruce publication - survey

This is an invitation to participate in an online survey.

It has been proposed that a publication be written that summarises the current knowledge about home-grown Sitka spruce, its properties, and its suitability for various products.

A large amount of knowledge on Sitka spruce properties has been generated over the years, but this is currently contained in numerous published and unpublished sources, many of which are not readily accessible. We aim to gather this information together and combine it with the latest research results.

A group consisting of members from various organisations has been formed to oversee and manage this publication. The group consists of:
Dr John Moore (Edinburgh Napier University, coordinator)
Mr Jim Dewar (Forestry Commission)
Dr Barry Gardiner (Forest Research)
Ms Elspeth Macdonald (Forest Research)
Mr John Brazier (formerly Building Research Establishment)
Dr Christine Cahalan (University of Wales, Bangor)
Mr Tim Reynolds (Building Research Establishment)

Based on similar publications for various species in other countries, we are proposing that the publication contains two broad sections. The first section will include an overview of the anatomical, physical and mechanical properties of Sitka spruce wood, while the second will discuss its suitability for various wood products.

Within these two broad sections, there is a number of potential topics which could be included. These are contained in the following questionnaire, which we would be most grateful if you could spare a few moments of your time to answer. Please indicate your opinion on the importance of each of the proposed topics. If there are additional topics that you would like included, please write them in the space provided.

This survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete and we appreciate you taking the time to do so. Your responses will help us to produce a publication which best serves its intended audience.

CTE's six year review

A report marking the first six years of the Centre for Timber Engineering has recently been published and can be downloaded here. The document summarises the education, research and knowledge transfer activities undertaken at the CTE since its official opening in January 2003. SIRT, being one of the major projects, is of course covered.

Hard copies of the report are available on request. Please contact Joanne Astbury (0131 455 2819 / j.astbury@napier.ac.uk)

Sitka spruce

Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) is native to the west coast of North America and was introduced into Great Britain in 1831. It has a comparatively high growth rate and can yield large amounts of timber within in a short space of time. It is now the main commercial species accounting for nearly a third of GB's woodland area and nearly half of all conifers.

Sitka spruce has a yield class of 14 meaning that a plantation can produce about 14 cubic metres per hectare per year. A typical timber frame house contains about 5 to 6 m³ of wood products within the structure. Looking at it another way, you could say that the 692 thousand hectares of Sitka spruce we have in GB grows enough wood fibre a year for a million new homes - that's one home every 30 seconds.

Not all of it goes into construction of course...in fact much less goes into construction than could do. UK-grown Sitka sawn timber readily grades to C16 which is perfectly adequate, even for constructing buildings of 8 storeys. Engineered wood products and massive wood construction allow for even more ambitious projects.

There are, however, challenges to overcome and that is why the SIRT project exists. Since its beginnings in 2004 we have been working hard to understand the Sitka spruce resource, the drivers behind wood properties, and the techniques required to predict the properties of wood in standing trees and felled logs. Our work aims to help the UK's forest and timber industries to improve the utilisation of UK-grown Sitka spruce, thereby creating a more competitive and sustainable forest products industry.

Blog launch

SIRT is a research collaboration working to support the UK's forest and timber industries. The project was started in 2004 through a £1.2 million Strategic Research Development Grant from the Scottish Funding Council, with the aim of bringing together research in forestry, wood science, chemistry, biology and engineering to create a multidisciplinary virtual research centre to understand the UK's timber resource at all scales.

From now on you'll be able to stay up-to-date on the activities of the SIRT project through this blog. The members of the research team will be posting regular articles about what they are doing, what they have discovered, and the relevance to industry.