Professor Hunt

Explore the World of Wood

in Historic Preservation
Text Box: Nondestructive Testing

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Text Box: Often continued use or adaptive reuse of buildings, especially historic buildings, are perceived to be unsafe and financially risky. Sometimes even historic buildings are demolished because of the lack of economic, technically sound, comprehensive structural assessment methods. Cooperative research by Purdue University, the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory and the National Park Service has as its goal to nondestructively assess the structural capacity of in-place wood floor systems. Evaluation methods include static load testing and transverse vibration performance. Our overall objective is to more efficiently inspect timber structures by evaluating component systems rather than individual members. The evaluation research has progressed through three phases: individual joists, both new and salvaged; lab-built floors constructed of the previously tested joists; and finally in-place floors in a variety of buildings.

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Professor Michael O. Hunt © 2007
Page was last updated May 10, 2007