In this study, the changes in elastic behaviour and mass losses of different hardwood and softwood species exposed to decay in a laboratory soil tests were assessed. Wood decay was monitored using different assessment methods, namely: mass loss and changes in elastic behaviours (MOE) determination. Elastic changes were determined by static and dynamic methods, for the latter, acoustic technique was applied. The results obtained show a high correlation between dynamic and conventional static bending measurements of test specimens at different stages of wood decay. The non-destructive assessment of modulus of elasticity assessment proved to be a good tool in the prediction of early stages of wood decay.

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