Nonlinear mechanical behaviour and analysis of wood

and fibre materials

Stefan Holmberga, Kent Perssona and Hans Petersson ,b

a
Division of Structural Mechanics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
b
Department of Structural Mechanics, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
Received 16 October 1998.
Available online 9 June 1999.

Abstract
The mechanical behaviour of wood was studied from a micro up to a macro level. Wood is a cellular material
possessing a high degree of anisotropy. Like other cellular solids, it often exhibits a highly nonlinear stress–
strain behaviour. In the present study the mechanical properties of the cellular structure of wood are
characterized and modelled, the irregular cell shape, the anisotropic layered structure of the cell walls and
the periodic variations in density being taken into account. The continuum properties were derived by use of
a homogenization procedure and the finite element method. Stiffness and shrinkage properties determined
by this procedure are presented and are compared with measured data. The constitutive properties thus
determined at various structural levels can be used in numerical simulations of the behaviour of wood in
different industrially related areas. One such area is that of the refining process in mechanical pulp
manufacture. Simulations of the deformation and fracturing of wood specimens loaded under conditions
similar to those found in the refining process are presented. The numerical and experimental results
obtained are compared.
Author Keywords: Cellular materials; Wood; Mechanical behaviour; Microstructure; Homogenization; Finite
element method; Constitutive models; Defibration
Article Outline