Corrugated Wood Composite Panels For Structural Decking

esult from fixed flat-top corrugated platens. In spite of that, Waveboard® did not go intocommercial production because of the complications involved in fabricating, operatingand maintaining the mechanical platens. Another disadvantage of sine wave cross sectionwould be that attaching joists or flat panels would be difficult compared to a flat-topcorrugated pattern.Research ObjectivesPast research has been focused mostly on the improvement of material propertiesin order to increase the performance of flat wood composite panels as decking materials.This research will focus on the use of a corrugated shape to gain strength rather thanimproving the panel material properties. Design, manufacturing and testing of corrugatedpanels will be the main focus for this research. A brief and preliminary study of thehandling of corrugated panels during construction will be conducted to assess theadaptability of the current construction practices. There are four main objectives for thisresearch:1. Formulate finite element models and/or other mathematical models to predictand estimate the strength and stiffness for various corrugation profiles.2. Develop a manufacturing process for corrugated panels that is feasible forlarge-scale commercial production. The goal is to produce corrugated panelswith little or no change to the current OSB production lines, such as the flaking,drying, mat forming, pressing, and post-press handling processes.3. Manufacture and test the performance of corrugated panels (trimmed size:16”x16” and 4’x8’) for comparison to flat panels.4