ABSTRACT

Mode II fracture characterisation of wood has received less of the researchers’ attention relative to mode I. Typically, the designers conceive wood structures in order to minimise mode I loading that can induce crack propagation parallel to wood fibres and neglect mode II. However, mode II loading is prone to occur namely in structures under shear or bending loads. In the last case, the mismatch bending existing between earlywood and latewood layers leads to interlaminar shear stresses at the interface that can result in a mode II failure. For this reason and considering the growing interest on wood structural applications, the development of suitable fracture tests becomes relevant, as well as appropriate data reduction schemes to wood fracture characterisation under mode II loading, to accurately predict the material susceptibility to this failure mode.