Influencing Factors in Acoustic Emission Detection: A Literature Review Focusing on Grain Angle and High/Low Tree Ring Density of Scots Pine

Among non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques applied to structural health monitoring in existing timber structures, ranging from visual inspection to more sophisticated analysis, acoustic emission (AE) is currently seldomly used to detect mechanical stresses in wooden building assets. This paper presents the results from a systematic literature review on AE NDT applied to monitor micro and macro fracture events in softwood, specifically Scots pine. This survey particularly investigates its application with respect to the tree rings density and grain angle inspection, as influencing factors well correlated with physical and mechanical characteristics of wood. The literature review was performed in a three-step process defined by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram, leading to the selection of 31 documents from different abstract and citation databases (Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar). The outcomes have highlighted how laboratory experiments, including several types of tests (tensile, cutting, compressive, etc.), were conducted in most cases, while a very limited number of studies investigated on in situ monitoring. In addition, theoretical approaches were often explored in parallel with the experimental one. It emerges that—for tree ring density studies—a multi-technique approach, which may include microscopic observations, could be more informative. Indeed, although not widely investigated, high/low tree ring density and grain angle were found as influencing factors on the AE parameters detected by the sensors, during condition and structural health monitoring experiments.

Provenance-specific climate sensitivity of Pinus massoniana – a multi-environmental trial in subtropical China

Climate change is causing changes in tree species performance and distribution, impacting breeding programme effectiveness. Our aim was to analyse the effects of provenance and climatic factorson the annual ring density of Masson pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) at different experimental sites and potential breeding strategies that may be developed in response to future climate change. The study trees represented provenances originating from the western, east-central, northern, and southern regions of P. massoniana distribution in China. The wood density differed significantly among provenances. A multisite variance analysis test showed that the type B correlation coefficients for ring density at the two sites studied were less than 0.8, indicating an interaction effect of genotype by environment (G×E) on tree ring density. Climatic factors directly affected the wood density properties. At Chun’an (CA), the maximum latewood density (MXD) and minimum earlywood density (MND) were positively correlated with absolute maximum temperatures in August and May of the current growing season, respectively. At Taizi Mountain (TZS), MXD was significantly positively correlated with absolute maximum temperature in September ofthe current year and significantly negatively correlated with precipitation in June. MND was significantly positively correlated with absolute maximum temperature in May of the current year and significantly negatively correlated with precipitation in April. The climatic effects on P. massoniana wood density differed among seed-source origins. This study showed that ring density characteristics differed significantly among provenances, and provenance selection could promote wood density. MXD and MND exhibited significant genotype-by-environment interaction effects, and significant correlations were found between ring density and temperature, and precipitation conditions. These findings suggest that climatic factors and site conditionsin addition to genetics could be strong drivers of wood density variation, and/or that wood density is a highly plastic trait.

Phenotypic Correlations among Growth and Selected Wood Properties in White Spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) †

We examined phenotypic relationships among radial growth-related, physical (i.e., related to wood density), and anatomical (i.e., related to tracheid dimensions) wood properties in white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), in order to determine the strength and significance of their correlations. Additionally, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to establish if all of the properties must be measured and to determine the key properties that can be used as proxies for the other variables. Radial growth-related and physical properties were measured with an X-ray densitometer, while anatomical properties were measured with a Fiber Quality Analyzer. Fifteen wood properties (tracheid length (TL) and diameter (TD), earlywood tracheid length (ETL) and diameter (ETD), latewood tracheid length (LTL) and diameter (LTD), ring width (RW), ring area (RA), earlywood width (EWW), latewood width (LWW), latewood proportion (LWP), ring density (RD), intra-ring density variation, earlywood density (EWD), and latewood density (LWD)) were assessed. Relationships were evaluated at intra-ring and inter-ring levels in the juvenile wood (JW) and mature wood (MW) zones. Except for a few cases when mature tracheid diameter (TD) was involved, all intra-ring anatomical properties were highly and significantly correlated. Radial growth properties were correlated, with stronger relationships in MW compared to JW. Physical properties were often positively and significantly correlated in both JW and MW. A higher earlywood density coupled with a lower latewood density favored wood uniformity, i.e., the homogeneity of ring density within a growth ring. Managing plantations to suppress trees growth during JW formation, and enhancing radial growth when MW formation starts will favor overall wood quality. In order, RW-EWW-RA, TL-ETL-LTL, and RD-EWD-LWP are the three clusters that appeared in the three wood zones, the whole pith-to-bark radial section, the juvenile wood zone, and the mature wood zone.