Analysis of Elastic Anisotropy of Wood Material for Engineering Applications

This paper presents a convenient method to describe the degree of the elastic anisotropy in a given type of wood and then discusses its practical values. Besides mechanical and elastic behaviour of wood are investigated in order to understand the optimum mechanical behaviour of it in selected directions. Bounds on the wood elastic constants have been constructed in terms of elasticity and compliance tensors for any type of woods by developing Hill (1952) approach. So for any type of wood with known elastic constants, it is possible to choose the best set of elastic constants (effective elastic constants) which determine the optimum mechanical and elastic properties of it. Bounds on the wood elastic constants as well as the degree of elastic anisotropy are significant and critical cases in design of any engineering and structural materials made up of wood.