Evaluation of mechanical characteristics of wood by means of impulse excitation

ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to determine the mechanical characteristics: modulus of elasticity, compressive strength, tensile strength parallel to fibers and shear strength, of 29 Brazilian wood species through nondestructive tests. Twenty-nine specimens of 29 species of wood were used. The specimens have been prepared carefully so they are free from defects. The device used was the Sonelastic. It serves to perform non-destructive tests using acoustic waves caused by an impact. By means of software, which analyzes the acoustic wave, the dynamic modulus of elasticity and the dynamic transverse deformation modulus are determined. Using the values of the mechanical characteristics, of the 29 species of wood, provided by NBR 7190 and IPT, a regression analysis was performed between the mechanical characteristics and the dynamic modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that the use of the impulse excitation technique, to estimate the modulus of elasticity, presents a high correlation between the studied variables (R2 = 97.54%). The dynamic modulus of elasticity is on average 5.81% higher than the static modulus of elasticity. To estimate the compressive strength is a promising alternative. The level of significance is good with coefficient of determination of R2 = 74.53%. On the other hand, the estimation of tensile strength and shear strength may lead to not very reliable values.