Ultrasonic device for the imaging of green wood

Wood is a biological and natural growth-medium. This medium is orthotropic and its production varies in response to environmental conditions, and obviously, according to tree age. As such, variations in material properties are much more complex than anisotropy. For standing trees, numbers of auscultation tools are available and marketed. The objective of the BioGMID project is to create an efficient and optimized procedure for characterization and cross-sectional imaging of standing trees based on ultrasonic and X-ray imaging. An ultrasound measurement suitably combined with an X-ray measurement should allow a qualitative and quantitative high-resolution analysis of the structure. This article reports the development of a specific ultrasonic imaging device which can be used in tropical forest plantations. Fast characterization of plantation trees could be a useful tool for clonal selection and genetic improvement.