Durability of outdoor exposed wood : a comparative study on a noise barrier

• In March 1996 nine test sections of a noise barrier were built along the Arlandaline in co-operation with Banverket, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Swedish National Testing Research Institute (SP), Beijer Bygg AB and different wood preservative manufactures. Each sections has an approximately length of 4 meters per section and a height of 3,1 meter. Three sections are made of non-treated pine, spruce and larch respectively. The rest of the sections are made of pine, treated with different wood preservations. The aim of this study is to find the most appropriate wood material for a specific construction, in this case a noise barrier, regard to durability and decomposition, and in the extension to find the most ecological and economic wood material. By comparing different wood species and preservations of wood regard to durability of outdoor exposed wood gives an indication of the most appropriate wood material to be chosen for this type of construction. The untreated spruce, pine and larch boards in contact with ground is in a bad condition, an assessed service life of about 5-15 years according to the results in this study, while the untreated wood above ground is hardly affected at all by biological attacks. No degradation is detected on the different preserved pine sections. More data is needed to assess the residual service life of the wood preserved sections.

Nyckelord

degradation

durability

wood preservatives

biological attacks

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pop (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)