Crush Performance of Redwood for Developing Design Procedures for Impact Limiters·

Containers for the transportation of hazardous and radioactive materials incorporate redwood in impact limiters. Redwood is an excellent energy absorber, but only the most simple information exists on its crush properties. The stress-strain interrelationship for any wood species subject to three-dimensional stresses is largely unknown and wood behavior at both high strains and high strain-rates is known only in general terms. Both stress-strain and crush failure theories have been developed based only on uniaxial load tests. The anisotropy of wood adds an additional complexity to measuring wood response and developing suitable theories to describe it. A long history of wood utilization in the building industry has led to design procedures and property information related to simple uniaxial loadings that do not inflict damage to the wood. This lack of knowledge may be surprising for a material that has a long history of engineered use, but the result is difficulty in utilizing wood in more sophisticated designs such as impact limiters.