Phase I developed methods for reliably assessing the bending strength of in-situ wood members will be refined using nondestructive evaluation (NDE) procedures involving spectral analysis of stress-wave parameters. Phase I research has verified the feasibility of this NDE technique. Phase II research will enable detailed refinement of the NDE method ultimately leading to commercial NDE devices for in-situ testing of wood members. Currently, no reliable methods exist which can accurately define the strength of individual wood beams. Phase I research has provided a highly accurate NDE method to predict the in-site strength of individual beams. Successful refinement of this technique is anticipated for the Phase II research. Such procedures will improve the efficient utilization of critical wood resources.
