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Research Accomplishments
2010 and 2011 research highlights for Advanced Structures research at FPL.
2011
ID: FPL-045  | America's Historic Covered Timber Bridges Partnering with the Federal Highway Administration and National Park Service, the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has taken the lead in conducting research efforts aimed at preserving and/or restoring historic covered bridges. Several collaborative studies have been initiated to improve engineering... view » |
ID: FPL-034  | Colony Collapse of Eastern Subterranean Termites Termites are typically eliminated by treating one house at a time. Community-wide termite elimination strategies are being developed using a method called trap, treat and release and dual baiting stations. In this method, termites are lured to cellulose or cardboard baiting stations (trap), dusted w... view » |
ID: FPL-035  | Corrosion of Metals in Wood In the past, gravimetric corrosion data for fasteners exposed to treated wood has been reported as a percent weight loss. Although percent weight loss is a valid measure of corrosion for comparing identical fasteners, it can distort the corrosion performance of fasteners with different geometries an... view » |
ID: FPL-039  | Durable Wood Product Evaluations The development of improved durable wood products involves years of testing to ensure long-term durability. The most rigorous and meaningful evaluations place test specimens (stakes) in soil contact in humid climates that may require many years to yield meaningful results. Recently researchers have ... view » |
ID: FPL-040  | Elucidating Covalent Bond Formation and Cleavage in Wood Understanding the chemical changes of lignocellulosic wood polymers subjected to different chemical and biological processes is difficult. The common practice of isolating cell wall components for individual analyses is time consuming and can alter the original structure of lignocellulosic polymers ... view » |
ID: FPL-042  | Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Building Material Recovery and Reuse The green building and sustainable construction movement is growing, and building professionals (including architects, material specifiers, contractors and end users) are increasingly interested in working to reduce environmental impacts from the buildings they create or live in. Reusing recovered b... view » |
ID: FPL-047  | Labeling Wood Products Based on Environmental Impacts Transparent and credible environmental labeling of products is vital for a sustainable future. To aid in developing a sustainable future, evaluating products for their environmental impact using life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a growing research area. LCA, a science-based methodology, examine... view » |
ID: FPL-048  | Lumen Filling and Sol-Gel Reinforcement of the Wood Cell Wall Although wood remains the building material of choice in residential construction, it also has poor durability and dimensional instability. For above-ground exterior applications such as deck flooring, important properties are hardness and weathering resistance. To improve these properties, research... view » |
ID: FPL-049  | Moisture Control in Crawl Spaces in Louisiana In flood-prone areas, elevating the floor system of a building above the anticipated flood level can significantly limit the extent of property damage associated with flooding. In hot and humid climates, such as the Gulf Coast region, homes have long been constructed with raised floors on crawl spac... view » |
ID: FPL-050  | Nonresidential Building Construction in the United States, 2008 Nonresidential construction is an important part of U.S. construction markets, and a major market for wood products. This was especially true in 2008. As U.S. housing markets slipped to record low levels of activity, nonresidential construction climbed to unprecedented levels. In 2008 the total valu... view » |
2010
ID: FPL-005  | A percolation model for water and electrical conduction in wood with implications for durability Recently, researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory and University of Wisconsin have developed a new model of electrical conduction in wood that provides a good fit to experimental data, offers insight into the mechanism of conduction, and integrates well with other experiments that probe the st... view » |
ID: FPL-013  | An Innovative Method for Determining Moisture Gradient of Wood Products Changes in moisture content of wood-based composite materials can lead to linear expansion and, more specifically, hygroexpansion. This can cause severe internal stresses resulting in deformities and defects such as warping, surface checks, and honeycomb during the wood drying process. A non-destruc... view » |
ID: FPL-001  | Centennial Edition, Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material The Wood Handbook-Wood as an Engineering Material serves as a primary reference document for a wide variety of users-from the general public through architects and design engineers who use wood in highly engineered structures. view » |
ID: FPL-020  | Engineering Standard for Moisture Control in Buildings ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 160-2009, Criteria for Moisture-Control Design Analysis in Buildings, was published in May 2009. This engineering standard was developed over the past 13 years by an international committee chaired by an FPL scientist. The standard embodies a quantitative, performance-based appr... view » |
ID: FPL-009  | History of lumber submissions under ASTM D 1990 since the North American In-Grade testing program The North American In-Grade Testing Program, begun in the mid-1970s, tested more than 70,000 full-size specimens of North American production lumber representative of the total specimen population throughout the geographic range of production. Forest Product Laboratory scientists have conducted a te... view » |
ID: FPL-018  | Identification of economically significant death-watch and spider beetles in Wisconsin Two widely distributed beetle families, the death-watch (Anobiidae) and spider beetles (Ptinidae), include a number of economically significant species which cause damage to wooden materials and/or stored products. Distribution and abundance of several common species are known but the obscure lifecy... view » |
ID: FPL-007  | Improving Accelerated Testing of Durable Wood Products Durable wood products such as posts, poles and timbers are expected to resist decay and termite attack for several decades. Testing the durability of new types of wood products is challenging because it is impractical to conduct tests for more than a small fraction of the expected service life. view » |
ID: FPL-004  | Modeling indoor humidity in homes Indoor humidity levels in a home influence not only occupant comfort and indoor air quality but also the durability of the building, especially in cold climates. Researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory undertook a critical assessment of the literature to determine the reliability of other para... view » |
ID: FPL-003  | Natural fumigants protect wood against termites Forest Products Laboratory researchers discovered that essential oils from some common plants such as dill, rosemary and lemongrass can be used as fumigants to kill termites. view » |
ID: FPL-019  | North America's pellet sector The U.S. Forest Products Laboratory's nationwide mission to assess the wood sector's status and trends placed this research within its sphere. In collaboration with the Endowment for Forest Communities, through the University of Tennessee, a comprehensive enumeration of all major existing and prospe... view » |
ID: FPL-031  | Performance of Wood Structural Systems in Earthquake Zones FPL scientists were actively involved in field assessments of low-rise structures, particularly wood structures, looking for seismic and tsunami damage in Concepci?n, San Pedro de la Paz, Talcahuano, and Dichato. Presentations were made to Chilean wood industry representatives and government officia... view » |
ID: FPL-008  | Public Access to Actual Data Files for Cone Calorimeter Tests of Wood Products The cone calorimeter test is a fire test used internationally for research and development of new fire retardants and to provide input data to models for predicting the reaction of building materials to fire and the spread of a fire within a building. The primary output is the heat release rate due ... view » |
ID: FPL-006  | Termite Eradication: A search for the Holy Grail Regarding Wisconsin termites, laboratory tests were initiated to evaluate transfer of a number of different dusting compounds to un-dusted colony mates with varied results. view » |
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