Construction

and Building

MATERIALS

Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Thermophysical characterisation of tropical wood used

as building materials: With respect to the basal density
P.S. Ngohe-Ekam a, P. Meukam
b

a,*,1

, G. Menguy b, P. Girard

a
Laboratoire dEnergetique, Ecole Nationale Superieure Polytechnique, P.O. Box 8390, Yaounde, Cameroon
Laboratoire dEtudes Thermiques et Solaires, Universite Claude Bernard, Lyon I. 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
c
Laboratoire Energie Environnement, Cirad-Foret, 73 rue J.F. Breton, BP 5035, 34090 Montpellier, France

Received 30 May 2004; received in revised form 10 February 2005; accepted 30 June 2005
Available online 19 August 2005

Abstract
An experimental study has been carried out to determine thermophysical properties of tropical wood. Five species, covering a
wide range of densities of most of the wood used in Central Africa, has been chosen. These properties which characterise the thermally insulating materials, are related to basal density in order to help predict the thermophysical properties of any tropical wood as
soon as its basal density is known. Steady-state and unsteady state methods were used to measure thermal conductivity and thermal
diusivity, respectively. Specic heat and thermal eusivity were then calculated. The inuences of moisture content and the principal cutting plan on the thermophysical properties of tropical wood were examined. Higher conductivity, diusivity and eusivity in
the axial direction were observed, as well as the non-directional dependence character of the specic heat. It was also observed that
thermal conductivity of tropical wood increases with infradensity both in the axial and the transverse directions. Finally, it was
shown that conductivity and eusivity increase and thermal diusivity decreases with the increase of moisture content.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Tropical wood; Thermal conductivity; Thermal diusivity; Infradensity; Eusivity

1. Introduction
The cost of building materials in developing countries is often exorbitant, particularly when most of the
materials have to be imported. On the other hand, the
use of expensive and inappropriate materials is improper in the tropical regions. Timber is available locally
throughout every country in Africa and has always been
widely used as a building material for temporary and
permanent buildings. Wooden board materials such as
solid wood, plywood and bre building board can cover
*

Corresponding author. Fax: +237 222 45 47.

E-mail addresses: pasanek@yahoo.fr (P.S. Ngohe-Ekam),
pierre_meukam@yahoo.fr (P. Meukam).
1
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
Strada Costiera, 11-34014 Trieste, Italy.
0950-0618/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.06.017

walls, doors and windows of timber structures. Wood

has the advantages of relative tooling costs compared
to those for competitive materials, a high strength to
weight ratio, an excellent insulation and unique aesthetic properties [1]. The materials used in the structure
should be given careful consideration. Because of the
low thermal conductivity and moderate density of
wood, the thermal diusivity of wood, which is a measure of how quickly a material can absorb heat from
its surroundings, is much lower than that of other structural materials, such as metal, brick, and stone. The
durability of woods is often a function of water, but
that does not mean wood can never get wet. Quite the
contrary, wood and water live happily together. Wood
is hygroscopic material, which means it naturally takes
on and gives o water to balance its surrounding environment. The durability of each timber species depends

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P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

Nomenclature
b
Cp
D
e
f
Kg
LV
Mv
Pvs
T
R
Re
S
P
Pv
Ta

thermal eusivity (J m1 K1 s1/2)

specic heat (J kg1 C1)
air-vapour mass diusion coecient (m2 s1)
thickness of sample (m)
resistant factor to gas diusion in porous
media
water vapour permeability (kg m1 Pa1 s1)
water latent heat of vaporisation (J kg1)
molar mass of vapour (kg mol1)
pressure of saturating vapour (Pa)
temperature of the sample (C)
constant of perfect gases
resistance of the heater (X)
area of surface perpendicular to the ux
direction (m2)
total pressure of the gaseous phase (Pa)
pressure of vapor (Pa)
ambient temperature of laboratory (C)

on the surrounding environment and the building

construction [2]. Thermal conductivity, thermal diusivity and specic heat are three important engineering
properties of a material related to heat transfer characteristics. Each of the three properties can be measured
by several well-established methods, but measuring
any two of them would lead to the third through the
relation
k
a
;
1
qC p
where k, a, Cp and q are, respectively, thermal diusivity, thermal conductivity, specic heat and density.
Thermal eusivity b characterises how fast the supercial temperature of a material rises. From thermal
conductivity, b can be calculated when heat capacity
and density are available, using the following relation
p
b kqC p .
2
Methods of measuring thermal conductivity can be
classied into two broad categories: steady and transient-state heat transfer. Many authors usually utilise
one of the two methods for this physical property. The
thermal conductivity of borage Seeds has been measured
by the transient technique using line heat source [3].
Transient thermal conductivity methods have beneted
from rapid nature of the testing [4]. Density (q) and heat
capacity (Cp) are measured in order to calculate thermal
conductivity. Omar Douzane et al. [5] conducted a
method, which employs periodic signals, for measurement of the thermal diusivity and eusivity of building
materials.
An experimental study has been carried out in order
to present the inuence of density on the thermophys-

Tb
Th
Tc
U
Xv

inside temperature of box (C)

temperature of hot surface of sample (C)
temperature of cool surface of sample (C)
voltage (V)
vapour mass fraction into pore

Greek symbols
a
thermal diusivity (m2 s1)
q
density (kg m3)
x
water content (%)
mg
kinematic viscosity (m2 s1)
Subscripts
eq
equivalent
g
gaseous phase
v
vapour
s
saturation

ical properties of tropical woods [6]. As density varies

with the moisture content, it was dicult to examine
eciently the eect of this parameter. In order to avoid
this diculty, basal density, which only depends on the
species of wood according to Chesseron [7] and Guitard [8], is used in this paper. The moisture content
of woods can modify their thermal performance. Thus
a study of the inuence of moisture content on equivalent thermal conductivity and thermal diusivity is
presented.

2. Materials and method

2.1. Description of material
The samples were taken from the following ve species of tropical wood:
 Two high-density woods: Tali and Bilinga.
 Two medium density woods: Sappily and Sipo.
 One low-density wood: Ayous.
Wood is a porous material, which is constituted
with at least two phases. The brous nature of wood
strongly inuences how it is used. Wood can safely
absorb large quantities of water without attaining
moisture levels that will be inviting fungal decay. The
characteristics and arrangements of these brous cells
aect properties such as dimensional stability. It is
necessary to specify the signicance of the dierent
thermal conductivities obtained experimentally in this
work.

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

2.2. True thermal conductivity and apparent thermal

conductivity
According to Degiovanni and Moyne [9], relation
(3) can be used to determine thermal conductivity.
Uniform pressure and hygroscopicity are assumed in
the experiment, and a very short experimental time is
considered.
oX v
K k qg fDLv
;
3
oT
where f is the resistant factor to gas diusion in porous
media, k is the thermal conductivity (W m1 C1), qg is
the vapour density (kg m3), D is the air-vapour mass
diusion coecient (m2 s1), Lv is the water latent heat
of vaporisation (J kg1).
The thermal conductivity k, obtained directly from
the Fourriers equation on a homogeneous material
equivalent to the porous material, is called true thermal
conductivity. K is called apparent thermal conductivity [9] because it considers in addition to k, an evaporating and diusing term. Yet, for macroscopically
immobile air in the material (i.e., steady-state particular
case or samples with adiabatic edges), and neglecting the
inuence of temperature variation on latent heat Lv, it is
experimentally possible to obtained the equivalent thermal conductivity keq given by

1

fD
P vs
fD
P vs mg
Mv
Mv 

k eq k Lv
1

RT
RT
P
P Kg
dP vs
;
4

dT
where Kg is the gaseous material permeability
(kg m1 Pa1 s1), Mv is the molar mass of vapour

931

(kg), Pvs is the pressure of saturating vapour (Pa), mg is

the kinematic viscosity (m2 s1).
Using the steady-state method, an experimental study
has been carried out in order to measure the equivalent
thermal conductivity keq. Degiovanni [9] has dened the
parameters in Eqs. (3) and (4) in details. keq is the equivalent thermal conductivity and is measured, in this
work, using the steady-state method.
2.3. Thermal conductivity measurement
Thermal conductivity measurements were conducted
using the box method. This method is based on steady-state heat transfer. The apparatus is a isothermal enclose with an exchanger at its base, which contains water
with glycol maintained at low temperature by a cryostat.
Each box has a heater and there are two environments
above and below the sample (Fig. 1).
The experimental setup consists of:
 An isothermal vacuum A which is cooled by a heat
exchanger R fed by a uid temperature regulator,
the cryostat HAAKE D 3 G.
 A plywood made box B: isolated inside by styrodur;
it has an opened face where the sample E is placed.
 A heat emitter C: this is a heating lm fed by an autotransformer. It enables to create a hot atmosphere
above the sample.
 Temperature sensors D: they are platinum resistors
for surface temperature and atmosphere temperature
measurement.
 A measurement station, which receives among others,
the connecting wires coming from the sensors.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the apparatus for thermal conductivity measurement.

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P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

The dimensions of a sample were 27 cm 27 cm. The

samples thickness varied between 3 and 5 cm. As the
surroundings are at the same temperature as the upper
boxes, the power supplied by the electrical resistance
mainly goes through the sample.
When the steady-state is reached through the sample,
the balance equation at the unit time is given by
V 2 k eq S
T C  T F C 1 T B  T A .

e
R

Eq. (5) takes into account the three following uxes

2

 Joules eect produced by the heating element: UR .

 Global heat losses through the box B: C1(Tb  Ta).
 Heat conduction transfer through the sample:
k eq S
T h  T c .
e
The expression of the thermal equivalent conductivity
keq is deduced from Eq. (5) as follows:
 2

e
U
 C 1 T b  T a ;
6
k eq
S T h  T c R
where C1 is the over all heat transfer coecient through
the box B. The average value of C1 is 0.16 W C1 [10].
Temperatures were measured using platinum resistances
and results were recorded for the calculation of equivalent thermal conductivity of each sample. Tests were
conducted under temperatures between 17 and 25 C.

Fig. 2. Schematic view of box for measurement of thermal diusivity.

Elsewhere Sacadura [12] relates that if two materials

whose temperatures are T1 and T2, and thermal eusivities b1 and b2, are put in perfect contact, their contact
surface will have an equilibrium temperature given by:
T eq

b1 T 1 b2 T 2
.
b1 b2

If b1 is higher than b2, the equilibrium temperature is

nearer to T1. The thermal eusivity then shows the ability of a material to impose its temperature to the other
when they are in physical contact.
2.6. Relationship between wet density qx and basal density
qi

2.4. Thermal diusivity measurements

For the thermal diusivity estimation, an unsteady
state method (Degiovannis model using a very short signal) is used. Several sensors are used to detect temperatures variations. These variations are sent to an ANC,
ARDETEM, which also amplies the signal (i.e., the
dierence between actual and initial temperature) before
orienting it towards the temperature curves recorder.
One side of the sample received uniform short impulse energy from a constant ux radiant source whose
power was 500 W (Fig. 2). With the theoretical model of
Degiovanni [11] the thermal diusivity is evaluated using
the response of the other side of the sample.

The wet density qx of a sample is the ratio of its

weight (kg) and its volume (m3) at a given moisture content x (%). Wet density can be related to water content
as follows [13]:

2.5. Specic heat and thermal eusivity calculations

where q0 is the density at 0% water content and Cr is the

retractibility coecient of the sample, dened by the
radio Rxmax
. Rmax is given by:
sat

Specic heat Cp and thermal eusivity b were calculated using Eqs. (7) and (8), respectively. In these relations, the values of thermal conductivity keq and
thermal diusivity a were obtained experimentally as described in Sections 2.3 and 2.4.
Cp

k eq
;
qa

k eq
b p .
a

7
8

 In the hygroscopic domain, (x 6 xsat):

qx q0

1x
.
1 Crx

10

 Out of the hygroscopic domain (x > xsat):

qx q0

Rmax

1x
;
1 C r xsat

V sat  V 0
;
V0

11

12

where Vsat and V0 are the volumes of the sample at xsat

and at 0% moisture content, respectively.
The basal density (also called infradensity) qi of a
sample is the ratio between the mass M0 (kg) of the sample at 0% moisture content and its saturation volume

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

933

Table 1
Saturation water content, retractibility coecient and infradensity of the tested specie (mean values)
Species
2

xsat (10 )
Cr
qi (kg m3)

Tali

Bilinga

Sappily

Sipo

Ayous

32.3
0.386
776

31.8
0.300
692

32.3
0.356
559

31.1
0.361
499

24.8
0.150
345

Table 2
Saturation water content, retractibility coecient and infradensity of Talis tested samples (leading to the mean values for Tali in Table 1)
Direction
2

xsat (10 )
Cr
qi (kg m3)

Radial

Tangential

Axial

Mean value

30
0.370
784

39
0.360
764

28
0.430
782

32.3
0.386
776

0.9

0 % water content

0.8

12 % water content

0.7

20 % water content

0.6

40 % water content

Conductivity (W/m.K)

a: axial direction

60 % water content

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Infradensity (kg.m-3)
0 % water content

0.9

b: transverse direction

12 % water content

0.8
Thermal Conductivity (W/m.K)

20 % water content

0.7
40 % water content

0.6

60 % water content

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )

Fig. 3. (a) and (b) Variation of equivalent thermal conductivity of tropical wood with infradensity.

934

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

Vsat (m3). Chesseron [7] and Guitard [8] explain that it is

a theoretical ratio used in the calculus and they specify
that it helps to characterise species. Using this characteristic, Eqs. (10) and (11) become
1x
for x 6 xsat ;
1 Crx
for x > xsat .

transverse). The values obtained for xsat, Cr and qi are

shown in Table 2, as well as their mean values. Introducing the mean values of xsat, Cr and qi into Eqs. (12) and
(14) the wet density for the Tali species becomes

qx qi 1 C r xsat 

13

qx 872.8.

qx qi 1 x

14

and

1x
1 0.386x

qx 7761 x

for x 6 0.32

for x > 0.32.

3.1. Thermophysical properties in term of basal density

In the Eqs. (10)(14), Cr, xsat and qi were obtained
experimentally, and their mean values for the dierent
samples of the same species are presented in the Table 1.
The use of relationships (10), (11), (13) and (14) and
the values in Table 1 give simple relationships between
thermal physical properties and the moisture content.
Taking the species Tali in example, three samples were
considered. The analysis examined the problem in the
three principal directions (i.e., radial, tangential and

k T 0.73qx  429.4
k T 0.69qx  388.8

Tangential
Radial

12 % water content

k T 0.71qx  409.1.

19

Introducing the values of qx given, respectively, by Eqs.

(15) and (16) in (19) the equivalent thermal conductivity
in transverse direction for Tali becomes

a: axial direction

20 % water content

Diffusitivity (10-9 m2/s)

40 % water content
60 % water content

220
180
140
100
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3
Infradensity (kg.m )

a: transverse direction

200
Thermal Diffusivity (10 -9 m2/s)

0 % water content
12 % water content
20 % water content

180

40 % water content
60 % water content

160

140

120

100
0.3

0.4

0.5

17
18

The average of Eqs. (17) and (18) is given by

0 % water content

260

16

In the transverse directions, the following relations

were used for Tali sample to calculate the equivalent
thermal conductivity in tangential and radial direction
[4].

3. Results and discussion

300

15

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )

Fig. 4. (a) and (b) Thermal diusivity of tropical wood variation with infradensity.

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

1x
 409.1
for x 6 0.32;
1 0.386x
k T 551.0x 142.0
for x > 0.32.
k T 619.6

20
21

Note that Eqs. (20) and (21) are especially for the Tali
species.
The process used to get Eqs. (20) and (21) for Tali
species is applied for all the other species considered,
both in transverse and longitudinal (i.e., axial) directions. The relationships obtained were used to plot the
gures presented in the following section.
3.2. Equivalent thermal conductivity
Fig. 3(a) and (b) represent the variations of the equivalent thermal conductivity of tropical woods with infradensity in axial and transverse direction, respectively. It
shows that equivalent thermal conductivity increases linearly with the infradensity; this can be explained by the
fact that, for a given volume, the heavier wood is constituted with matter whose particles are more favourable
for conduction heat transfer. These gures also show
the increase of that property with the moisture content.
In fact, wood is a porous and hygroscopic material; with

the increase of water content, the air whose thermal conductivity is lower then that of water is progressively replaced by water.
3.3. Thermal diusivity
The thermal diusivity variation in axial and transverse directions with infradensity is represented in
Fig. 4(a) and (b). It can be observed that there is a
decrease of thermal diusivity when water content
increases. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact
that waters diusivity is lower than that of air. These
gures also show that the diusivity of tropical woods
increases with the basal density. It is observed the
decrease of this property with the increase of water content, but when a minimum value is reached it began to
increase. In fact, as thermal diusivity is a measure of
how quickly a material can absorb energy, it cannot
decrease indenitely.
3.4. Specic heat
Fig. 5(a) and (b) show the increase of the specic
heat of tropical woods in axial and transverse

0 % water content
12 % water content

a: Axial direction

20 % water content

3600

40 % water content

Specific heat (J/kg.K)

60 % water content

3200
2800
2400
2000
1600
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )
0 % water content
12 % water content
20 % water content
40 % water content

b: Transverse direction

60 % water content

Specific heat (J/kg.K)

3600
3200
2800
2400
2000
1600
0.3

0.4

0.5

935

0.6

0.7

0.8

Infradensity (kg.m-3)

Fig. 5. (a) and (b) Variation of specic heat of tropical wood with infradensity.

936

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

directions with the moisture content; this is an obvious

result since water has a greater heat storage capacity
than the air. For lower moisture content (<20%) the
specic heat is always a decreasing function of basal
density. But when the moisture content becomes
important, the decreasing process is observed only for
lower basal densities (<600 kg m3), and for higher basal densities the specic heat begins to increase. This
phenomenon could only be explained by the knowledge
of the percentages of lignin, water and air in the wood
skeleton.
3.5. Thermal eusivity
The variation of thermal eusivity with water content
is presented in Fig. 6(a) and (b). It shows that this property of tropical woods increases with water content. It is
also observed that thermal eusivity increases linearly
with the infradensity; thus low-density wood shall be
softer in touch. Up to 20% of water content, tropical
woods have very low eusivity (<950 J m1 K1 s1/2)
compared with that of usual materials as concrete

(1420 J m1 K1 s1/2), aluminium (2157 J m1 K1

s1/2) and steel (1328 J m1 K1 s1/2) and this explain
the frequent use of woods in the handles of tools.
3.6. Inuence of cutting plan on thermophysical properties
Fig. 7(a)(d) represent the variation of thermal conductivity, thermal diusivity specic heat and eusivity,
respectively, with infradensity.
The double thermal conductivity was observed in the
axial direction than in the transverse direction. This
observation is in agreement with the works of Cote
and Kollman cited by Lartique [14]. For given water
content and infradensity, the thermal diusivity of tropical woods is twice as high in the axial direction as in the
transverse direction. It is also observed on these gures
that the cutting plan (i.e., the ux direction) has a negligible inuence on the specic heat of tropical woods;
this is in perfect agreement with the non-direction
dependence character of this property. The higher eusivity is observed in the axial direction than in the transverse direction.

2000
0 % water content

1750

a: axial direction

12 % water content

Effusivity (J.m-2.K-1.s-1/2)

20 % water content

1500

40 % water content
60 % water content

1250
1000
750
500
250
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )
0 % water content

2000

b: transverse direction

12 % water content

Effusivity (J.m-2.K-1.s-1/2)

1750

20 % water content
40 % water content

1500

60 % water content

1250
1000
750
500
250
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )

Fig. 6. (a) and (b) Thermal eusivity of tropical woods as function of infradensity.

Thermal Conductivity
(W/m.K)

P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

0 % water content, axial direction

0.8

937

a: thermal conductivity

0 % water content, transversal direction.

40 % water content, axial direction

0.6

40 % water content, transverse direction.

0.4
0.2
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Thermal Diffusivity (10-9)

m2/s)

Infradensity (kg.m-3)
12 % water content,axial direction

b: diffusivity

300

12 % water content, transversal direction

250

60 % water content, transversal direction

60% water content, axial direction

200
150
100
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Specific heat (J/kg.K)

-3
Infradensity (kg.m )
20 % water content, Axial Direction
20 % water content, Transversal Direction
40 % water content, Axial Direction.
40 % water content, Transversal Direction

c: specific heat
3300
2800
2300
1800
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

-3

Infradensity (kg.m )

1500

-2

-1 -1/2

1800

Effusivity (J.m .K .s

2100

0 % water content, axial direction

0 % water content, transversal direction
60 % water content, axial direction
60 % water content, transversal direction

d: effusivity

1200
900
600
300
0
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Infradensity (kg.m-3)

Fig. 7. (a)(d) Inuence of cutting plan on the thermophysical properties of tropical wood.

4. Conclusion
An experimental study was conducted on the thermal
properties of tropical woods. The inuence of water content and infradensity on these properties was examined. It
was shown that conductivity, diusivity, eusivity and
specic heat are strongly inuenced by the infradensity.
Thermal conductivity and thermal eusivity show a linear
variation with infradensity. The direction dependence for
thermal conductivity and thermal diusivity was observed. Specic heat and thermal eusivity are not direc-

tion dependent. This property of thermal eusivity, can

explain the tendency of tropical wood to be soft in touch
in comparison with usual materials. Correlations obtained enable the prediction of the thermophysical properties of any wood species, when it infradensity is known.

Acknowledgements
The corresponding author contributed to this work
during his visit, as associate, at ICTP, Trieste, Italy. This

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P.S. Ngohe-Ekam et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 929938

visit is nancially supported by Swedish International

Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

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