Wider use of timber has the potential to greatly reduce the embodied carbon of construction. Improved chemical treatment could help overcome some of the barriers to wider application of timber, by furthering the durability and/or mechanical properties of this natural material. Improving timber treatment by treating the whole volume of a piece of timber, or tailored sections thereof, requires sound understanding and validated modelling of the natural paths for fluid flow through wood. In this study we carry out a robust analysis of three-dimensional X-ray CT measurements on kiln-dried softwood in the presence of flow and identify small portions of early-wood which are uniquely capable of transporting fluids—herein ‘efficient transport pathways’. We successfully model the effects of these pathways on the liquid uptake by timber by introducing a spatial variability in the amount of aspiration of the bordered pits following kiln drying. The model demonstrates that fluid advances along these efficient transport paths between 10 and 30 times faster than in the remainder of the timber. Identifying these efficient transport pathways offers scope to improve and extend the degree to which timber properties are enhanced at an industrial scale through processes to impregnate timber.

中文翻译：

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识别早期木材中的有效传输途径：从存在流动的软木的 3D X 射线 CT 成像中获得的见解

更广泛地使用木材有可能大大减少建筑的隐含碳。通过提高这种天然材料的耐用性和/或机械性能，改进的化学处理可以帮助克服木材更广泛应用的一些障碍。通过处理整块木材或其定制部分来改善木材处理，需要对流体流过木材的自然路径进行充分的理解和验证建模。在这项研究中，我们对存在流动的窑干软木进行了三维 X 射线 CT 测量的稳健分析，并确定了具有独特输送流体能力的早期木材的小部分——这里是“有效的输送途径” . 我们通过在窑干后边缘坑的抽吸量中引入空间可变性，成功地模拟了这些途径对木材吸收液体的影响。该模型表明，流体沿着这些有效的传输路径前进的速度比木材的其余部分快 10 到 30 倍。确定这些有效的运输途径为通过木材浸渍工艺在工业规模上改善和扩展木材特性的程度提供了空间。