Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse
Hundreds of kilometers of timber sheet piles protecting the banks of canals of the Netherlands are nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced. Even though azobé wood is very widely used, little is known about the current state of the azobé timber sheet piles that have been in serv...
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Case Studies in Construction Materials |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000270 |
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| author | Abhijith Kamath Ganesh Shri Raam Kalaichelvi Senthil Kumar Geert Ravenshorst Jan-willem van de Kuilen |
| author_facet | Abhijith Kamath Ganesh Shri Raam Kalaichelvi Senthil Kumar Geert Ravenshorst Jan-willem van de Kuilen |
| author_sort | Abhijith Kamath |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hundreds of kilometers of timber sheet piles protecting the banks of canals of the Netherlands are nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced. Even though azobé wood is very widely used, little is known about the current state of the azobé timber sheet piles that have been in service for many decades. More information about the current strength is necessary for planning any intervention, maintenance or reuse of the recovered sheet pile boards. This study aims to characterize the current state of azobé sheet piles using destructive techniques such as four point bending tests, compression tests and non-destructive techniques such as micro-drilling and visual assessment. To achieve this objective sheet piles that were in service for over 57 years were pulled out and tested in the laboratory. The non-destructive tests results indicate that the deterioration of azobé sheet piles is concentrated on the superficial layers of the boards. Visual classification and micro drilling techniques did not yield results that support the findings from the destructive tests. The bending strength and modulus of elasticity of in service sheet piles used in current study was found to be lower by about 25 % and 30 % respectively when compared to new azobé sheet piles reported in literature. Based on average values of measured dimensions, density of the sheet piles in this study was in general, lower compared to new sheet piles. Thus, the lower strength could be due to deterioration, lower intrinsic quality of the recovered sheet piles, or simply fall within the natural scatter of the material. In addition an exercise to classify the samples to a strength class is shown for practicing engineers. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-198073104ea9454599d7a4d5cb0afbf6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2214-5095 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Case Studies in Construction Materials |
| spelling | doaj-art-198073104ea9454599d7a4d5cb0afbf62025-01-16T04:28:42ZengElsevierCase Studies in Construction Materials2214-50952025-07-0122e04228Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuseAbhijith Kamath0Ganesh Shri Raam Kalaichelvi Senthil Kumar1Geert Ravenshorst2Jan-willem van de Kuilen3Department of Engineering Structures, Biobased Structures and Materials Group, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, Delft 2628 CN, the Netherlands; Corresponding author.Department of Engineering Structures, Biobased Structures and Materials Group, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, Delft 2628 CN, the NetherlandsDepartment of Engineering Structures, Biobased Structures and Materials Group, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, Delft 2628 CN, the NetherlandsDepartment of Engineering Structures, Biobased Structures and Materials Group, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, Delft 2628 CN, the Netherlands; Wood Technology, Timber Research Munich, School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Winzererstrasse 45, Munich 80797, GermanyHundreds of kilometers of timber sheet piles protecting the banks of canals of the Netherlands are nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced. Even though azobé wood is very widely used, little is known about the current state of the azobé timber sheet piles that have been in service for many decades. More information about the current strength is necessary for planning any intervention, maintenance or reuse of the recovered sheet pile boards. This study aims to characterize the current state of azobé sheet piles using destructive techniques such as four point bending tests, compression tests and non-destructive techniques such as micro-drilling and visual assessment. To achieve this objective sheet piles that were in service for over 57 years were pulled out and tested in the laboratory. The non-destructive tests results indicate that the deterioration of azobé sheet piles is concentrated on the superficial layers of the boards. Visual classification and micro drilling techniques did not yield results that support the findings from the destructive tests. The bending strength and modulus of elasticity of in service sheet piles used in current study was found to be lower by about 25 % and 30 % respectively when compared to new azobé sheet piles reported in literature. Based on average values of measured dimensions, density of the sheet piles in this study was in general, lower compared to new sheet piles. Thus, the lower strength could be due to deterioration, lower intrinsic quality of the recovered sheet piles, or simply fall within the natural scatter of the material. In addition an exercise to classify the samples to a strength class is shown for practicing engineers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000270Timber sheet pileDeteriorationReuseBank protectionResidual bending strength |
| spellingShingle | Abhijith Kamath Ganesh Shri Raam Kalaichelvi Senthil Kumar Geert Ravenshorst Jan-willem van de Kuilen Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse Case Studies in Construction Materials Timber sheet pile Deterioration Reuse Bank protection Residual bending strength |
| title | Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse |
| title_full | Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse |
| title_fullStr | Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse |
| title_short | Mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobé timber boards for reuse |
| title_sort | mechanical strength characterization of recovered azobe timber boards for reuse |
| topic | Timber sheet pile Deterioration Reuse Bank protection Residual bending strength |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509525000270 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abhijithkamath mechanicalstrengthcharacterizationofrecoveredazobetimberboardsforreuse AT ganeshshriraamkalaichelvisenthilkumar mechanicalstrengthcharacterizationofrecoveredazobetimberboardsforreuse AT geertravenshorst mechanicalstrengthcharacterizationofrecoveredazobetimberboardsforreuse AT janwillemvandekuilen mechanicalstrengthcharacterizationofrecoveredazobetimberboardsforreuse |