Moisture-related mechanical properties of softwood: 3D micromechanical modeling

Computational micromechanical analysis of the influence of moisture, density and microstructure of late-wood on its hydroelastic and shrinkage properties is carried out. The elastic properties of cell sublayers have been determined using the unit cell models as for fiber reinforced composites (two covered cylinders representative volume element, for S1, S2 and S3 sublayers) and rectangular embedded unit cells (for isotropic M and P sublayers). 3D hierarchical finite element models of softwood cells as a hexagon-shape-tube with multilayered walls were generated using parametric techniques. The results for elastic properties of cell sublayers; obtained from the unit cell models, from the self-consistent method and Halpin-Tsai equations are compared, and good agreement between these methods was observed. A computational technique, based on the representation of moisture effect as equivalent temperature-caused effects, has been developed and employed to the modeling of the moisture-related changes of the elastic properties of cell layers. A series of computational experiments have been carried out In the simulations, it was observed that the shrinkage coefficients of longitudinal direction increase with increasing MFAs in layer S2, while the reverse is true in the transverse plane. The shrinkage coefficients of wood depend strongly on the shape of the hexagon-shaped cells. Wood density has a strong effect on both the Young's modulus and the transverse Young's modulus. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.