The cause of deterioration in 171 sugi-wood civil-engineering structures in Oita prefecture was investigated. Both the relation between the type of deterioration and its causal factors and a method for estimating the service lives of the wooden structures were examined.
Wooden structures for civil engineering are classified into three types : assistant structures, decorative structures and permanent structures. Small-diameter logs are used for assistant structures, lumber or preservative-treated wood for permanent structures. The biological causes of the damage were wood-decay fungi and termites. If the durable limit value of the wood is 3.4 in the 0-5 scale of the deterioration evaluation system, with a mean value of 33 mm for the Pilodyn driving depth, and 70% unusable proportion for the wood, the service life of untreated wood is 6
years and that of preservative-treated wood is 16 years, based on linear regression analysis between the limit values and the elapsed years. Using the multiple regression formula with a purpose variable for the average grade of damage, a formula for estimating service life is obtained for an estimated durable limit of 3.4 deterioration. The cause of deterioration in wooden protective fences was decay inside the surface cracks, and the bending strength of the damaged wood was clearly lower than that of unused one.
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