IRG Documents Database and Compendium


Search and Download IRG Documents:



Between and , sort by


Displaying your search results

Your search resulted in 67 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.


Reliability-based service life prediction methodology for assessment of water protection efficiency for coatings on wood
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20268
Assessment of water protection efficiency according to EN 927-5 has been shown to give significant differences in water absorption values for different types of coatings on wood. It is shown that the combination of EN 927-5 and an artificial weathering procedure gives more information regarding expected durability and long-term performance than a single measurement of water absorption on fresh, un...
J Ekstedt


An approach to testing the preventive effectiveness of preservative treatments for wooden joinery
1981 - IRG/WP 2156
The ecological sequence established in field trial samples exposed out of ground contact has shown the need for outdoor exposure in testing potential joinery preservative pretreatments. A system of exposure of L-joint units is proposed. Data obtained by examining samples destructively show promise as the basis for predicting service life after relatively short exposure periods (within 2 years)....
J K Carey, A F Bravery, J G Savory


An engineering model for the decay of timber in ground contact
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20260
To predict the residual strength of an engineered structure, it is first necessary to predict the effect of decay. A model was developed in which the effective area of structural decay in large section timbers was defined as that area that could be picked out with a pen-knife. Some limited studies indicated that for practical purposes the remaining wood could be assumed to have its full residual s...
R H Leicester, C-H Wang, M N Nguyen, J D Thornton, G Johnson, D Gardner, G C Foliente, C MacKenzie


Prediction of Weight Percent Gain (WPG) of furfurylated wood by FT-NIR spectroscopy
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20295
Wood modification based on furfuryl alcohol improves several important wood properties, such as the resistance to fungal decay and insect attack, hardness, dimensional stability, bending strength and stiffness. The improvements of wood properties depend on the weight percent gain (WPG) due to furfurylation. Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was used to calibrate PLS-regression ...
M Eikenes, P O Flæte, E Ystrøm Haartveit, S Lande


A serial exposure technique for estimating probable service life of treated timber
1978 - IRG/WP 2111
This paper briefly describes part of our preliminary work aimed at developing a test procedure that culd be adopted as a standard method. A detailed version of the work has been submitted for formal publication. In both papers, the aim is to promote interest in extended laboratory testing of wood preservatives. It is believed that this work may provide the basis of a laboratory test procedure from...
J A Butcher


Field test design for service life prediction of wooden components
2005 - IRG/WP 05-20308
Wood is predominantly degraded by organisms. Thus, compared to other building materials, service life of wooden material is influenced by many more factors, which are divided into direct and indirect factors. Climate, geographical position, and construction criteria count to the indirect decay factors. Besides material inherent properties (natural durability, wood preservatives), wood temperature...
A O Rapp, C Brischke


Quality assured wooden sidings - Criteria, performance evaluations and current status
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20216
Quality assured wooden sidings were brought to the Swedish market in 1998. The system was worked out during a six year period in a close cooperation between the sawmill industry and several research institutes. Centuries of use have given a wealth of experience of spruce boards as a siding material, showing that it works well in most cases but also that its longevity is highly variable, depending ...
F Englund, I Johansson, J Ekstedt, R Nussbaum


Service Life Prediction of Wood Claddings by in-situ Measurement of Wood Moisture Content
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20304
The Danish Technological Institute is in co-operation with industry partners running a project aiming at predicting the service life of different wood protecting systems. The project focuses on examining the moisture reducing effect of different wood claddings and the ability to maintain the appearance of the surfaces, when the wood is used in service class 3. A façade construction is exposed t...
B Lindegaard, N Morsing


Some fundamental thoughts on the prediction of field performance from lab-testing based on comparison of lab and field test results of some copper-free materials
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20269
In the paper results from lab testing (ENV 807 and EN 113) are compared with field results (EN 252) of differently treated wood. Depending on the type of the organic biocide containing material and depending on type of soil and type of decay differences were found in suitability of the lab methods to predict field performance. The attempt is made to interpret the found differences. Furthermore it ...
A O Rapp, U Augusta


L-joint based testing for service life prediction of exterior plywood in out of ground contact conditions
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20342
Good biological performance of several plywood types in exterior conditions is most probably related to altered wood moisture behaviour compared to solid wood. Therefore a test set up was developed, using EN 330 L-joint testing methodology, to facilitate differentiation of plywood for exterior applications. The proposed test set up is an adaptation of an accelerated L-joint method introduced by V...
J De Smet, I De Windt, J Van Acker


How to win friends and influence the market — Service Life Prediction and performance-based durability assessments of wood products in construction
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20348
Due to direct and implied demands from the market and from e.g. the EU Construction Products Directive, the need to supply service life estimates for building products is growing. For several years, a development of Service Life Prediction (SLP) methodologies has been going on, but the awareness of this development has hitherto reached only a very limited extent in the wood sector. For materials w...
F Englund


A Prediction of Arsenic Groundwater Concentrations Influenced by Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills in Florida Containing CCA-Treated Wood
2006 - IRG/WP 06-50242
Groundwater fate and transport models can provide an indication of the potential impacts of arsenic from the infiltration of leachate from unlined C&D debris landfills containing CCA-treated wood. A solute transport model, Migration of Organic/Inorganic Chemicals (MYGRT), was chosen to predict groundwater contaminant concentrations at specified locations from a hypothetical source (C&D lan...
J Jambeck, T Townsend, H Solo-Gabriele


A roadmap for performance-based specification of wooden components based on service life prediction
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20351
The need for an unified and harmonised system for performance classification and specification of wood and wood-based products in Europe emanates from requirements of users and the European Construction Products Directive, CPD. A road to a feasible specification system is outlined. Exposure-related performance prediction was worked out as a key task on the way to product specification. Therefore s...
C Brischke, A O Rapp


Service life prediction of plywood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20367
Plywood is the wood based panel showing the best physical and mechanical properties for application under moist construction conditions. Appropriate physico-mechanical durability for exterior applications in transportation or construction systems can be guaranteed by assessment of the glue bond quality and mechanical characteristics. However, due to the fact that mainly non-durable wood species ar...
J Van Acker, J De Smet


Predicting the decay resistance of timber above-ground: 2. When can reliable field data be obtained?
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20368
Application of modern performance-based engineering and design requires building products that are thoroughly characterised in terms of their ability to perform as expected over time. The engineering community is attempting to use this information to provide predicted service-lives for various building elements. Increasingly, this service-life prediction must be based on objective measurement coup...
L P Francis, A J Swain, J J Morrell


Multivariate analysis of infrared spectra for the prediction of the mechanical performance and dimensional stability of thermally modified wood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40367
The use of calibrated mid-infrared Fourier transform (FTIR) spectroscopy for predicting the main bending strength parameters of thermally modified wood is described for the first time. The analysis is based on the handling of OSC-filtered FTIR data from control and treated wood samples, using partial least squares (PLS) regression. Sets of Norway spruce, Scots pine and Beech wood samples were th...
M M González-Peña, M D C Hale


In-service performance of wood depends upon the critical in-situ conditions. Case studies.
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20382
Wood is a unique building material, but is by nature designed to deteriorate. A detailed understanding of the factors and interactions involved are important when working with service life prediction of wooden components in buildings. Wood may experience exponential fungal degradation caused by variation in the climatic factors within a small limited area and by minor imperfection in the wooden ...
L Ross Gobakken, J Mattsson, G Alfredsen


Service life prediction of wood: scale-dependent tools within a bio-engineering framework
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20387
Service life prediction (SLP) is a complex yet essential method for the building industry. Accurate and precise assessment of the components is crucial for a strong position of wood on the market. As it is a biological material, wood has an inherent variability and is susceptible to fungal attack. Therefore a profound knowledge of these characteristics is the corner stone of SLP for wood products....
J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker, M Stevens


Service Life Prediction of Wood Claddings by in-situ Measurement of Wood Moisture Content: Status after 5 years of Outdoor Exposure
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20401
The Danish Technological Institute is in co-operation with industry partners running a project aiming at predicting the service life of different wood protecting systems. The project focuses on examining the moisture reducing effect of different protecting systems for timber claddings and the ability of these to maintain the appearance of the surfaces, when the wood is used in service class 3 (EN ...
E Tang Engelund, B Lindegaard, N Morsing


Continuous moisture measurement (CMM) to detect failure of moisture resistance
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20422
A wood coating system will fail to perform properly after a certain time of weathering. From that moment, the substrate is especially prone to fungal attack. Moisture plays a key role on weathering performance, wood protection efficacy and decay susceptibility of wood. Therefore, knowledge of the moisture dynamics of the applied wood protection is of significant importance in the prediction of the...
I De Windt, J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker


Service life prediction of wooden components – Part 1: Determination of dose-response functions for above ground decay
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20439
Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Douglas fir heartwood (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) specimens were exposed in double layer field trials at 24 different European test sites under different exposure conditions (in total 28 test sets). The material climate in terms of wood moisture content (MC) and wood temperature was automatically recorded over a period of up to eight years and compar...
C Brischke, A O Rapp


Service life prediction of wooden components – Part 2: Impact of material, exposure and design details
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20440
Dose-response functions permit to estimate the moisture and temperature induced decay potential for any wooden building component and exposure, and thus the service life to be expected. In part 1 of this series dose-response functions were established as a result of double layer field trials carried out at 24 European test sites over up to eight years. Using them makes it no longer necessary to co...
C Brischke, B Lauenstein, M Bilstein, T Bornemann, A O Rapp


A Review on Conditions for Decay Initiation and Progression
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20444
This paper reviews the key publications available on service life prediction of exterior wood applications, critical conditions for decay initiation and progression, and the impact of decay on wood strength. While it is helpful to use climatic data to predict general trend of decay potential, more precise decay initiation and progression information is required by hygrothermal modeling for its dam...
Jieying Wang, P I Morris


The biological durability approach for wood product performance and service life prediction
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20457
The performance of wood-based products under conditions that enable biodegradation are of concern to all who envisage sustainable use of forest based products. This concern is also the basis of classification of wood species on the basis of their biological durability. Engineers are looking for options to transfer such classification into practical service life values for constructions and related...
J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke, L De Boever


Improved analysis of field test data related to service life prediction of tropical wood species
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20458
Long field trials of wood in ground contact give valuable data on the natural durability of the material. The European Standard EN 350 gives guidance on how to perform these durability classification, but is limited to the use of averages of in-service life of a set of specimens compared to a reference set. Starting from a database of visual assessment of field stake testing, it is possible to obt...
J Van den Bulcke, A Wong, Ling Wang Choon, Yoon Soo Kim, J Van Acker


Next Page