Treesearch

Atmospheric forcing and interactions between the fire and atmosphere are primary drivers of wildland fire behavior. The atmosphere is known to be a chaotic system that, although deterministic, is very sensitive to small perturbations to initial conditions. We assume that as a result of the tight coupling between fire and atmosphere; wildland fire behavior, in turn, should also be sensitive to perturbations in atmospheric initial conditions. Observations suggest that low intensity prescribed fire, in particular, is susceptible to small perturbations in the wind field, which can significantly...

Biocatalysis using molecular oxygen as the electron acceptor has significant potential for selective oxidations at low cost. However, oxygen is poorly soluble in water, and its slow rate of mass transfer in the aqueous phase is a major obstacle, even for laboratory-scale syntheses. Oxygen transfer can be accelerated by vigorous mechanical methods, but these are often incompatible with biological catalysts. Gentler conditions can be achieved with shallow, high surface area bag reactors that are designed for single use and generally for specialized cell culture applications. As a less-expensi...

This paper is a review of published studies involving the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) on wood structures. It also contains background information to help the reader understand how GPR functions. The use of GPR on wood structures began to grow in popularity at the turn of the millennium. GPR has many characteristics that make it attractive as an inspection tool for wood: it is faster than many acoustic and stress wave techniques; it does not require the use of a couplant; while it can also detect the presence of moisture. Moisture detection is of prime concern, and several...

Southern yellow pine (SYP) is one of the most used softwood species in the world. Most of this raw material come from fast-grown plantation trees. It is of interest to determine if SYP clear wood properties may have changed over the long term, in particular whether such properties may have declined. Herein, specific gravity (SG), ultimate compression strength parallel to grain (UCS||), and UCS perpendicular to grain (UCS⊥) from three samples were compared: Sample 1 tested in 2014; Sample 2 from molding and millwork producers tested in 2017–2019; and Sample 3 from a study conducted in the...

Sorption isotherm models are frequently used to understand the interactions of water with cellulosic materials. Many commonly used models, such as the Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer, Hailwood-Horrobin, and Dent isotherm models, are based on idealized physical systems. In the scientific literature, these models are often used to predict properties of wood such as the monolayer capacity, which is a representation of the number of available sorption sites in the material. Reporting such properties assumes that an idealized system adequately represents actual wood-water interactions. These models...

In this work, water-soluble polymers were screened through solution casting and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOX) were found as reinforcement agents for cellulose nanofibril (CNF) films. Mechanical property increases of 99% in elastic modulus, 93% in the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and 134% in the work of failure (WOF) were reported for TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNFs) with 0.44 mmol/g carboxylate groups and 15 wt% PVA. PEOX had a higher elastic modulus increase of 113%, yet lower UTS and WOF increases were found at 63% and 28%, respectively....

When discussing structural southern yellow pine lumber, questions frequently are asked regarding changes over time. This is a significant area of discussion given that structural lumber properties (i.e., design values) were changed around 2012. Climate change, forest management, genetics, processing, and others are listed among the many possible contributing factors. Of interest are these questions: (1) Are changes in bending properties permanent at some fundamental level, or are they somewhat dynamic and responsive to controllable factors? (2) To what degree have the basic southern pine...

The interrelationships among specific gravity (SG), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and strength (modulus of rupture, MOR) are largely the foundational basis for non-destructive evaluation and testing. Resource monitoring and commercial structural lumber production often rely upon such non-destructive evaluation to predict the bending and/or tension strength of individual members. These technologies require routine calibration. In addition, it is important to know the extent to which a given resource may change over time. To that end, this study investigated the relationship among SG, MOE,...

The month-over-month housing data for May were varied, and all data were positively robust year-over-year in all categories. Declines were reported for total-, single-, and multifamily permits; total- and single-family completions; and existing house sales.

Soy flour was evaluated as a partial substitute for resin in the manufacture of oriented strand board (OSB), a wood-based composite that often replaces solid lumber and plywood in structural applications in the construction industry. Since the presence of soy could alter OSB biodegradation properties, termite resistance of OSB panels made with 0, 10, and 20 percent of polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pMDI) resin substituted with soy flour (OSB0, OSB10, and OSB20, respectively) was investigated. Single choice tests between three types of OSB and southern yellow pine (SYP) solid...