Structural design with Accoya wood

Abstract

The benefits from acetylation of wood to enhance resistance against fungal decay and dimensional stability have been known for many years. Since 2007 Accsys Technologies has been commercially producing Accoya wood that is based on acetylation of Radiata pine. Accoya has shown its potential for many applications, even for structural use. However, due to limited engineering data each project had to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Based on research at various universities and institutes, Accsys Technologies has in combination with TimberSolve and ARUP, developed a handbook to assist designers and structural engineers produce reliable, durable and consistent designs utilising Accoya wood in structural applications.

Keywords

Acetylated wood Mechanical properties Strength grading Structural application Structural design

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander

. 2007. Accoya^™. An opportunity for improving perceptions of timber joinery, Proc. 3rd Eur. Conf. on Wood modification, 431–438.

Bongers

, Alexander

, Jorissen

, Blaß

, Hill

. 2010. Acetylated wood in structural applications, Proc. 5th Eur. Conf. on Wood modification.

Bongers

, Roberts

, Stebbins

, Rowell

. 2009. Introduction of Accoya® wood on the market – technical aspects, Proc. 4th Eur. Conf. on Wood modification, 301–310.

BS 373:1957 . Methods of testing small clear specimens of timber.

BS 5268-2:2002 . Structural use of timber – code of practice for permissible stress design, materials and workmanship.

Crawford

, Hairstans

, Alexander

, Bongers

. 2012. Assessment of structural performance of Accoya® wood for GluLam fabrication, Proc. 12th World Conf. on Timber engineering.

EN 338:2009 . Structural timber – Strength classes.

EN 383:2007 . Timber structures – Test methods – Determination of embedment strength and foundation values for dowel type fasteners.

EN 408:2010 . Timber structures – Structural timber and glued laminated timber – Determination of some physical and mechanical properties.

10.

EN 1995-1-1:2005 . Eurocode 5 – Design of timber structures – Part 1-1: General – Common rules and rules for buildings.

11.

EN 14080:2011 . Timber structures – Glued laminated timber and glued laminated solid timber – Requirements.

12.

EN 14081-2:2010 . Timber structures – Strength graded structural timber with rectangular cross section – Part 2: Machine grading; additional requirements for initial type testing.

13.

EN 14358:2007 . Timber structures – Calculation of characteristic 5-percentile values and acceptance criteria for a sample.

14.

Jorissen

, Lüning

. 2010. Wood modification in relation to bridge design in the Netherlands, Proc. 11th World Conf. on Timber engineering.

15.

Kattenbroek

. 2005. How to introduce acetylated wood from the first commercial production into Europe, Proc. 2nd Eur. Conf. on Wood modification, 398–403.

16.

Tjeerdsma

, Kattenbroek

, Jorissen

. 2007. Acetylated wood in exterior and heavy load-bearing constructions. Building of two timber traffic bridges of acetylated radiata pine, Proc.3rd Eur. Conf. on Wood modification, 403–411.

17.

Tjeerdsma

, Bongers

. 2009. The making of a traffic timber bridge of acetylated Radiata pine, Proc. 4th Eur. Conf. on Wood modification, 15–22.