THE FRACTAL NATURE OF WOOD REVEALED BY WATER-ABSORPTION

We use a simple experimental procedure of pressurized water absorption to show the fractal nature of the pore space in wood. Cubic blocks of wood were immersed in water at a given pressure for 14 days, and mass changes were measured. The plots of the mass changes versus block edg e sizes are straight lines whose slopes correspond to the fractal dime nsions of the void volume in wood. Results for different species and f or distinct water pressures are shown, suggesting the fractal dimensio n as a new relevant parameter to characterize the porosity of wood.