Southern pine resource characterisation

As part of a Forest and Wood Products Australia project, researchers developed virtual log models based on actual tree data measurements to assist growers with understanding the variability in wood properties found in the commercial southern pine plantations of southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. The premise of this work is that the ages of wood, as opposed to the geometry, are the main drivers for wood property variation. The model captures the variation of the wood modulus of elasticity (MOE), shrinkage and density within a tree by mapping core data measured from the tree. The three-dimensional model facilitates a virtual sawing to extract virtual boards from the sawlog section to predict properties for comparison with actual measurements.