| dc.description.abstract | Standing trees pertain a level of uncertainty, in regards to yield and end-use. Thus, it may
be feasible to analyse the forest, at the ground level, in order to allocate the timber resources
accordingly. Through stress-wave propagation, a forester would attach a TreeSonic tester to the
cambium in order to determine the wood quality. Furthermore, deviations and defects change the
wave-speed (time-of-flight), where rot pockets, insect damage, and reaction wood can be
detected by the change of TOF. This information is useful in respects of veneer logs, where the
value is significantly higher compared to saw-logs or pulp. However, it is important to note that
within the Boreal Forest, diameter-class largely influences product consideration. Thus, the
broad objective of this thesis is to explore new market opportunities to give a competitive edge in
the market. Therefore, using acoustic testing is a feasible non-destructive evaluation (NDE), in
regard to efficiently assisting eFRI systems with wood quality. This is seen in the results, where
the acoustic velocity values resulted significant. These values were used to calculate a predicted
modulus of elasticity at 12%, which proved to have no significant difference from the actual
MOE recorded from the destructive testing. This means that NDE can provide an accurate way to
measure the “quality” of standing timber. | en_US |
