Understanding hygroscopic properties of wood through multiscale modelling (HYGRO-WOOD)

InnoRenew CoE (Slovenia) together with Lithuanian Energy Institute started a new project – HYGRO-WOOD.

Wood is an anisotropic material that has a strong tendency to absorb water, which causes changes to its mechanical properties, dimensional stability, durability and physical and chemical properties. Multiscale modeling can capture moisture-induced wood at a resolution down to the atomic level. HYGRO-WOOD will use state-of-the-art multiscale techniques to investigate wood’s thickest cell layer and understand its hygroscopic (water absorption from the air) and mechanical behavior from atomic to molecular and continuum scale. The overall goal is to investigate the underlying mechanism of water molecules influencing properties such as hygroscopic swelling and mechanical weakening of wood, which can be upscaled to continuum modeling to provide material properties. The project is financed by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS).

Lithuanian Energy Institute‘s researchers hope that the research results will be applicable to wood drying tasks, increasing the durability of wood products.

Read more at: https://innorenew.eu/project/understanding-hygroscopic-properties-wood-multiscale-modeling/

InnoRenew CoE is an independent research institute established in 2017 through the InnoRenew project. Research targets are renewable materials and sustainable buildings, specifically innovative approaches to wood and its use, with the goal of transferring scientific knowledge into industrial practice.