Modelling of Transport Processes in Wood: Development and Validation of a Multiscale Homogenization Model for Transport Properties of Softwood

Wood is currently facing a boom in the construction sector and is increasingly used, both for common building and for special civil engineering purposes. To meet the resulting high demands on wood in design and dimensioning, accurate knowledge of the material and its properties is necessary. Thereby the moisture content is one of the determining factors in matters of technological and mechanical properties of the material wood. For instance strength and elasticity vary with changing moisture content. In order to investigate these phenomena, and, further, also to model them, it is indispensable to have a model for the conduction of moisture through wood on one's disposal. Since the moisture transport process strongly depends on temperature, also a model for heat transport in wood is needed. In the present work models for both processes are developed and validated by comparing model predictions for transport properties to corresponding measured values. The obtained results demonstrate the good predictive capabilities of the model and of the used homogenization techniques.