Assessment of in-place wood floor systems

Michael O. Hunt; Robert J. Ross; Xiping Wang; Lawrence Andrew Soltis; R. R. Leavitt; Zhiyong Cai

Treesearch

Assessment of in-place wood floor systems

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Michael O. Hunt, Robert J. Ross, Xiping Wang, Lawrence Andrew Soltis, R. R. Leavitt, Zhiyong Cai

Year:

2007

Type:

Miscellaneous Publication

Station:

Forest Products Laboratory

Source:

Journal of architectural engineering. Vol. 13, no. 1 (Mar. 2007): Pages 30-35.

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Abstract

Structural assessment of in-place wood floors is currently limited to inspection of individual members. This is costly and laborious. Consequently, the continued use or adaptive reuse of old/historic buildings is often in jeopardy because of the lack of an efficient and economical assessment method. A systems approach of assessment is the subject of this research. Floors in four old buildings and several laboratory-built floors were tested. The floor?s bending stiffness was determined by static bending tests and its fundamental natural frequency was determined by transverse forced vibration. A model for one way beam action with simple support is the best predictor of floor responses. A technique for using this research to predict stiffness of existing floors is suggested.

Keywords

Nondestructive tests, assessment, floors, wood, vibration, natural frequency, stiffness, wooden floors, flexure, elasticity, frequency of oscillating systems, dead loads, structural analysis, static loads, vibration tests, transverse vibration

Citation

Hunt, Michael O.; Ross, Robert J.; Wang, Xiping; Soltis, Lawrence Andrew; Leavitt, R. R.; Cai, Zhiyong. 2007. Assessment of in-place wood floor systems. Journal of architectural engineering. Vol. 13, no. 1 (Mar. 2007): Pages 30-35.