Quasi-static Energy Absorption of Wood

This study presents the experimental results for a series of tests on the uniaxial quasi-static crushing of cubical specimens of 50mm side for two species of wood such as Jack wood and Indian Fig. Compression tests were conducted on universal testing machine of 400kN capacity and at a constant deformation rate of 8mm/min. The woods were separately tested in the two principal directions i.e., grains oriented along the direction of loading (along the grain) and the other transverse to it (across the grain). An account of the macrodeformation modes observed in these tests was discussed, with a focus more on the evaluation of energy absorbing characteristics. A comparison is made with the theoretical estimates. The experimental results shows that the energy absorption by the Indian Fig wood for 00 specimens varied about 1.32 times that for 900 specimens and for the Jack wood it is 1.4 times.