The use of an acoustic technique to assess wood decay in laboratory soil-bed tests

This study assesses the changes in elastic behaviour (i.e. modulus of elast icity - MOE) and mass loss of different hardwood and softwood species expos ed to decay in laboratory soil-bed tests. Elasticity moduli were determined using conventional static methods as well as a dynamic method based on fle xural vibration. The results obtained show a high correlation between dynam ic and static bending measurements for all the timber species tested at dif ferent stages of fungal decay. Furthermore, the non-destructive MOE assessm ent proved to be a good tool for the early detection of wood decay.