Anisotropy of wood vibrational properties: dependence on grain angle and review of literature data

The anisotropy of vibrational properties influences the acoustic behaviour of wooden pieces and their dependence on grain angle (GA). As most pieces of wood include some GA, either for technological reasons or due to grain deviations inside trunks, predicting its repercussions would be useful. This paper aims at evaluating the variability in the anisotropy of wood vibrational properties and analysing resulting trends as a function of orientation. GA dependence is described by a model based on transformation formulas applied to complex compliances, and literature data on anisotropic vibrational properties are reviewed. Ranges of variability, as well as representative sets of viscoelastic anisotropic parameters, are defined for mean hardwoods and softwoods and for contrasted wood types. GA-dependence calculations are in close agreement with published experimental results and allow comparing the sensitivity of different woods to GA. Calculated trends in damping coefficient (tanδ) and in specific modulus of elasticity (E′/ρ) allow reconstructing the general tanδ-E′/ρ statistical relationships previously reported. Trends for woods with different mechanical parameters merge into a single curve if anisotropic ratios (both elastic and of damping) are correlated between them, and with axial properties, as is indicated by the collected data. On the other hand, varying damping coefficient independently results in parallel curves, which coincide with observations on chemically modified woods, either “artificially”, or by natural extractives.