Use of high resolution digital images and NDT imaging techniques for characterization of timber elements

This paper presents a non-invasive technique that can extract an accurate geometrical description of growth layer surfaces in wood. The method has been validated for sawn spruce elements (Picea AbiesKarst.). The aim is to implement a procedure to model domain geometry in the numerical analysis of wooden elements, taking into account the intrinsic variability of the material. The approach presented by the authors avoids internal imaging and achieves a digital 3D model of growth layers, using, as input data, images of the ring pattern, which represents the growth surface boundary curves, visible on all the cut faces of the wooden element.