USDA Forest Products Laboratory Dedicates Innovative Research Facility

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The USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Madison, Wis., USA, recently hosted a centennial event to commemorate 100 years of service to the American public, and to dedicate its new Centennial Research Facility (CRF). More than 300 guests attended the dedication ceremonies and toured the new Centennial Research Facility.

The special tour featured 16 demonstrations that included a timber bridge taken to failure, roundwood tension testing, and a weathering chamber. The new 87,000-square foot CRF (photo below) allows scientists to perform full-scale testing of wood-framed buildings, formulate new environmentally-friendly pre­servatives, and develop composite products in a manufacturing-friendly space. Its one-of-a-kind weathering chamber simulates temperature, humidity, sunlight, wind, and rain to test the durability of wood products.

The CRF is qualified for Silver certification by the Leadership in Energy & Environmen­tal Design (LEED) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. As such, it was designed to improve performance across the most important efficiency metrics: en­ergy savings, water usage, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources including sensitivity to their impacts. Researchers in engineering mechanics can assess the strength of full-scale structures while durability researchers test wood products in the punishing weather simulation chamber. Modern preservation testing equipment will replace the older vessels previously used, while an efficient and manufacturing-friendly floor plan will help advance wood- and bio-based com­posites research.

As a combination wood, steel, and concrete structure; the CRF has composite wood fins highlighting each column of tall tinted windows facing west and south. A white rubber-membrane roof system blankets two stories rising in the west, while a single-story high-bay space overlooks interior laboratory functions. Equipment and laboratories are housed in four main areas of research: Composites, Durability, Engineering Mechanics, and Preservation.

Invited speakers at the commemorative event included representatives from the USDA Secretary of Agriculture’s office, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl’s office, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, Deputy Chief of Research Ann Bartuska, University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Molly Jahn, and TAPPI President Larry Montague (in photo to the right).

As Montague noted, TAPPI and FPL have had a synergistic relationship for 95 years. TAPPI also has co-chaired an annual industry review of FPL’s pulp and paper research for more than 60 years, and gives valuable advice on how FPL can better position itself and its programs to transfer technology and solve important technical problems faced by industry.