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Towards modelling of decay risk of wooden materials

Zur Modellierung des Fäulerisikos von Holzprodukten

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Abstract

An empirical model for wood decay development which can be incorporated into a hygrothermal model of building physics is presented. The model is applied to the ERA-40 reanalysis data, based on six-hour weather observations in Europe, to estimate wood decay in different parts of Europe. These studies provide new tools for evaluating the durability and service life of wooden products and a preliminary European wood decay risk level map. The effects of the projected climate change on wood decay may also be considered by this methodology.

Zusammenfassung

Vorgestellt wird ein empirisches Modell zur Holzfäuleentwicklung, welches sich in ein bauphysikalisches hygrothermisches Modell einbauen lässt. Zur Bestimmung der Holzfäule in verschiedenen Teilen Europas benutzt das Modell die aufbereiteten ERA-40 Daten, die auf sechsstündigen Wetterbeobachtungen in Europa basieren. Diese Untersuchungen liefern neue Möglichkeiten zur Bestimmung der Dauerhaftigkeit und der Nutzungsdauer von Holzprodukten sowie eine vorläufige Darstellung des Holzfäulerisikos in Europa. Die Einflüsse der erwarteten Klimaänderung auf die Holzfäule können mit diesem Verfahren ebenfalls untersucht werden.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of WoodWisdom-Net and the wood industry partnership Building with Wood for funding the research work within the project WoodExter. The WoodExter research partners are thanked for their cooperation and collaboration in this project. ECMWF ERA-40 data used in this study were provided by ECMWF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Box 1000, 02044 VTT, Espoo, Finland

    H. Viitanen, T. Toratti, L. Makkonen, R. Peuhkuri & T. Ojanen

  2. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    L. Ruokolainen & J. Räisänen

Authors
  1. H. Viitanen
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  2. T. Toratti
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  3. L. Makkonen
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  4. R. Peuhkuri
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  5. T. Ojanen
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  6. L. Ruokolainen
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  7. J. Räisänen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Makkonen.

Additional information

This article is dedicated to Gerd Wegener on the occasion of his retirement as professor at the Technische Universität München.

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Viitanen, H., Toratti, T., Makkonen, L. et al. Towards modelling of decay risk of wooden materials. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 68, 303–313 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-010-0450-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-010-0450-x

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