Photos of Setup:

Laboratory Exercise No.2

DETERMINATION OF FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF WOOD

FINAL DATA SHEET

Table 2.1 Flexural Test Collected of Data

Sample ID Physical Properties

b (mm) d (mm) L (mm) Mass (kg) Density
(kg/m3)

S3 34.95 42.25 519.5 0.43755 570.38519

Table 2.2 Flexural Test Collected of Data

Reading No. Load (N) Deflection (mm)

S3 S3
1 0.0 0.0
2 1000 1.519
3 1140 1.691
4 1180 1.72
5 1280 1.863
6 1410 2.035
7 1840 2.695
8 2140 3.182
9 2400 3.612
10 2700 4.214
11 3000 4.96
12 3140 5.361
13 3180 5.533
14 3300 5.963
15 3410 6.336
16 3570 7.167
17 3650 7.740
18 2240 7.769
19 2270 7.97
20 2320 8.113
 Figure 2.3 Load – Deflection Diagram

4000

3500

3000

2500
Load (N)

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Deflection (mm)

Table 2.3. Summary of Sample Properties for Flexural Test

Sample Density Modulus of Maximum Flexural

ID (kg/m3) Elasticity (GPa) Stress (MPa)

S3A 570.38519 5.31 40.12

 Abstract:

This laboratory exercise gives us understanding on flexural strength of wood as an

important property in the design of joist, rafter, girt, and beam. It also helped us understand
how the flexural strength of wood test performed with the load applied perpendicular to the
grain.

All group members were present and actively partook of the lab exercise which was
conducted in the Construction and Materials Testing’s Laboratory on 14th of July, 2017.

The laboratory exercise can’t be conduct without the guidance of our instructor. He gave us
the instruction of what we will do for us to complete this laboratory exercise, the list of
equipment, and the procedures. We used the Universal Testing Machine or UTM which a
device used to test the tensile strength and compressive strength of materials. We also used
the metric scale, the analytical balance, the vernier caliper, and the circular saw for cutting the
lumber.

After the lecture and after we cut the lumber, we started to do the laboratory exercise. We
measure the length of the base with b and d (b as the smaller length and d as the longer
length) and the length or height by the use of vernier caliper. And by the use of analytical
balance we record the mass of the wood. While we are doing the exercise, we take some
pictures for our final report. And after that, we already go to UTM to conduct the static
bending or flexural strength test of wood. Specimens were simply supported, the distance
between supports was 18 inches or 0.4572 m, and the load was applied midway. The load was
applied continuously with constant test speed. We record a video and we also observe the
reading of the force and deformation in the computer. And the machine was stopped when
the wood gets broke. The location of failure of the sample wood is at the midspan and the
type of failure we had in our sample wood is splintering tension. After the test, we get the 20
points of interval to show the graph and the value of its load and deformation happened. And
then we started to compute for the Volume, the Density, the Modulus of Elasticity, and the
Maximum Flexural Stress.

For the summary of Sample Properties for Flexural Test, we get 570.38519 kg/m3 for
Density and our Maximum Flexural Stress is 40.12 MPa.
Analysis and Interpretation of Data and Result:

Bending strength is the ability of wood to resist the forces that bend the wood. Wood under
bending strength have combination of stresses such as tensile, compression and shear. Tensile
tend to lengthen the sample while compression tend to shorten the sample. Shear will tend to
split the wood. In this experiment, the method used is static bending test. This test can be
done in two method which includes central loading method or three point loading method.
Central loading method is carried out in this experiment by using a machine to test the
mechanical strength of wood. Static bending test is carried out by application of bending
stress to identify its stiffness or modulus of elasticity (MOE) and amount of force required to
result failure onto the specimen which is known as modulus of rupture (MOR). The duration of
load or the time during which a load acts on a wood member either continuously or
intermittently, is an important factor in determining the load that the member can safely
carry. The ability of wood to withstand load is depends on the time of the load applied the
load required to cause failure over a long period of time is much lesser than the load required
causing failure over a very short period of time. Wood under impact loading can resist nearly
twice as great as wood subjected to long term loading.

Based on the result obtained, the load increased up to 3650 N with a deflection of 7.74 mm
and the load decreased to 2240 N then gets increased again up to 2320 N with a deflection of
8.113 mm. At the Maximum Flexural Stress (Modulus of Rupture) we get 40.12 MPa with a
density of 570.38519 kg/m3. And the computed Modulus of Elasticity is 5.31 GPa.

Conclusion:

Based on the laboratory exercise, we can see that the relative density of the material are
varies directly proportional to the bending stress capacity of the wood. Lower density material
are ductile and easily brittle, hence we need to explore on how to overcome or strengthen the
wood bending stress capacity. To prevent any such failure from occur, we need to be aware of
selecting the right type of wood material for any use, the wood need to be treated before to
be use in any construction.

Lastly we can conclude that, the wood material that has lower value of relative density are
not suitable for using mainly in construction for example as a beam, the right function of the
wood are to distribute the stress to another, therefore if the wood we are using are easily
crack or brittle, therefore because of that, it could cause another serious problem such as
collapse and more.
Sample Computations:

Given
Sample b d L Mass
ID (mm) (mm) (mm) (kg)

S3A 34.95 42.25 519.5 0.43755

DENSITY
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔
𝝆=
𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆

𝟎.𝟒𝟑𝟕𝟓𝟓 𝒌𝒈
𝝆=
(𝟎.𝟎𝟑𝟒𝟗𝟓𝒎)(𝟎.𝟎𝟒𝟐𝟐𝟓𝒎)(𝟎.𝟓𝟏𝟗𝟓𝒎)

𝝆 = 570.3851931 kg/m3

MODULUS OF RUPTURE
𝟑𝐏𝑳𝒖
𝐟𝐁 =
𝟐𝐛𝐝𝟐

𝟑(𝟑𝟔𝟓𝟎 𝐍)(𝟒𝟓𝟕.𝟐 𝐦𝐦)

𝐟𝐁 =
𝟐(𝟑𝟒.𝟗𝟓 𝐦𝐦)(𝟒𝟐.𝟐𝟓 𝐦𝐦)𝟐

𝐟𝐁 = 𝟒𝟎. 𝟏𝟐 𝐍/𝐦𝐦𝟐 ~ 𝟒𝟎. 𝟏𝟐 𝐌𝐏𝐚

MODULUS OF ELASTICITY

𝐏𝐋𝟑𝐮
𝐄=
𝟒𝛅𝐛𝐝𝟑

(𝟑𝟏𝟒𝟎 𝐍)(𝟒𝟓𝟕.𝟐 𝒎𝒎)𝟑

𝐄=
𝟒(𝟓.𝟑𝟔𝟏 𝐦𝐦)(𝟑𝟒.𝟗𝟓 𝐦𝐦)(𝟒𝟐.𝟐𝟓 𝒎𝒎)𝟑

𝐄 = 𝟓. 𝟑𝟏 𝑮𝑷𝒂
 FLEXURAL STRENGTH TEST GRAPH

Regression Analysis
120

Grp. 1
Maximum Flexural Stress

100

80
(MPa)

60

Grp. 5
40
Grp. 4 Grp. 6 Grp. 2

20 Grp. 3

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Density (kg/m)

Group Density Maximum Compressive

No. (kg/m3) Stress (MPa)
1 838.647 106.18
2 506.27 34.08
3 570.385 21.22
4 345.56 29.5
5 492.61 37.05
6 361.515 28.065
7 838.647 106.18