A method for under bark detection of the wood grain angle radial dependence

• Twist in wood, being closely related to spiral grain, may cause serious problems in building structures, furniture, and joinery. It is therefore of great interest to sort out, at an early stage in the manufacturing process, trees, logs and boards that have an access of spiral grain. The spiral grain pattern is described by a helical deviation of the fibre direction in relation to the longitudinal direction of a living tree or a log and seems to be an indicator for other defects such as compression wood. Remote microwave sensing of spiral grain has received a large interest during the latest two decades. Its development has been impeded by the large variation with moisture content of the microwave properties of wood and by the complexity in modelling the electromagnetic field in a log with spiral grain. A review is presented of a direct method with no requirement of information on moisture content for boards. This procedure has recently been generalized to cylindrical logs and trees having a constant slope of the grain. A further generalization is presented here to allow for the normal spiral grain pattern with radially changing slope of grain in wood under bark. Based on this theory, a measurement procedure is proposed for the detection of wood grain angle with radial dependence, requiring no information on moisture content in the sapwood, also applicable for completely or partially frozen wood. A suitable application would be an instrument to use in the forest for measurements on living trees or logs.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Annan elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Trävetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Wood Science (hsv//eng)

Keyword

in field

living tree

log

measurement

Electrical engineering

Elektroteknik

Wood fibre and forest products

Träfiber- och virkeslära

Electrotechnology

Elektroteknik alt Electrical engineering

Forestry and Wood Technology

Skog och träteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)