Assessment of Asymmetrical Stress Profile within Wood Using Restoring Force Technique

Abstract

Asymmetrical internal stress profile within the kiln-dried lumber assessed using the restoring force technique on the half-split specimen has been investigated. Unlike the symmetrical internal stress profile in which the measured restoring force is completely described by an elastic beam theory, the asymmetrical internal stress profile also induces a so-called remnant force. By using the released strain and the elastic modulus data across the entire thickness obtained from the McMillen slice test, a numerical result based on the finite element model successfully simulates the restoring force profile for an entire range of both symmetric and asymmetric stress profiles. The finite element model is leveraged to evaluate the effect of asymmetry of stress profile on the remnant force. The value of the remnant force linearly depends on the stress profile deviation which is inferred to the level of asymmetric stress profile.