Solid mechanics for ash wood

Wood is an anisotropic material and, further, because of its natural origin the mechanical properties might significantly differ also between each of the samples tested. Ordinary methods for evaluation of solid mechanic prope rties often destroy the tested specimens. It is therefore not common practi ce to evaluate more than one property, e.g. Young's modulus for tension, at the same time using the same sample. Different tests also have different r ecommendations of how the test specimens should be designed in order to tes t the property of interest. When calculations are to be made by e.g. the Fi nite Element Method values for a number of properties must be included and when the resulting construction is examined after this, it is not easy to d ecide if discrepancies depend on unreliable input data. This paper therefor e describes tension, compression and bending tests for one specific detail, namely a wood beam of ash wood. The applied forces are well under those wh ere rupture occurs and hence the material is assumed to be intact during al l testing procedures.