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Influence of length and sensor positioning on acoustic time-of-flight (ToF) measurement in structural timber

  • Francisco Arriaga EMAIL logo , Daniel F. Llana , Miguel Esteban and Guillermo Íñiguez-González
Published/Copyright: April 21, 2017
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Abstract

The mechanical properties of timber can be estimated from wave propagation velocity by measuring wave time-of-flight (ToF). However, a time-lag complicates the measurements, which produces an apparent velocity dependency on length and this species and instrument dependent property is also influenced by knottiness. This research is dealing with time-lag determination by different sensor positioning in situ ToF measurements. ToF longitudinal measurements were conducted on 120 90 mm×140 mm specimens of the coniferous species radiata pine, Scots pine, laricio pine and maritime pine. The following commercially available acoustic devices were used: Sylvatest Duo, USLab, and Microsecond Timer. The sensors were arranged for the measurement types “end-to-end”, “on the same surface” and “on opposite surfaces”. ToF data were obtained from the full-length (4 m) specimens and then from the same specimens shortened to 3 m, 2 m and 1 m in length. The in situ procedures of ToF are applicable for a reliable length determination independently from the time-lag (tL) and velocity. The differences observed by end-to-end measurements, with respect to velocity, are below 4.4%. A velocity correction factor can be deduced for each instrument, which is independent of species.


Corresponding author: Francisco Arriaga, Prof., PhD, Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, MONTES, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Acknowledgements

Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, España, Programa Estatal I+D, 2013–2016 (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain, State Plan, Research and Development), Proy.: BIA2014-55089-P. Plan Nacional I+D+i 2008–2011, Proy.: BIA 2010-18858 and Mr. Ramón García Lombardero of Structural Timber Laboratory of CIFOR-INIA, Spain, for his technical assistance in this study.

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Received: 2016-11-14
Accepted: 2017-3-28
Published Online: 2017-4-21
Published in Print: 2017-8-28

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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