Numerical Modeling of Deformation and Fracture of Wood including Heterogeneity and Anisotropy

The challenge in numerical modeling of wood is to have the model closely match the structure of a real specimen. The model should account for heterogeneity, such as wood grain, growth rings, etc., and for anisotropy of each phase. In some problems, the model should also match realistic morphologies of specimens. This paper presents numerical results for transverse modulus and for transverse fracture using methods that explicitly account for earlywood and latewood and account for anisotropy in the radial and tangential directions. The fracture results analyzed a realistic morphology using digitized image of an actual specimen. A companion, imaged representation of radial and tangential directions was used to include anisotropy in the transverse plane. Experimental and simulation results on the same specimen can be compared. Such coupled methods may shed new light on deformation and fracture properties of solid wood.