Economic value of optical and X-ray CT scanning in bucking of Scots pine

In the Nordic countries, trees are typically bucked into logs using harvesters that measure only a two-dimensional diameter profile of the stem. Because the value of a log can vary significantly depending on its shape and internal defects, bucking decisions can in principle be improved by optical sc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wood material science and engineering 2021-05, Vol.16 (3), p.178-187
Main Authors: Rummukainen, Hannu, Makkonen, Marika, Uusitalo, Jori
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bucking optimisation
Computed tomography
CT scanning
Decisions
Diameters
Harvesters
Horns
log positioning
Medical imaging
Optimization
Pine
Pine trees
Pinus sylvestris
Rotation
Saw mills
Sawing
sawing simulation
Scanning
Stems
Tomography
value recovery
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Summary:In the Nordic countries, trees are typically bucked into logs using harvesters that measure only a two-dimensional diameter profile of the stem. Because the value of a log can vary significantly depending on its shape and internal defects, bucking decisions can in principle be improved by optical scanning of the three-dimensional stem shape, and detection of knots and other features inside the stem by X-ray computed tomography (CT). The objective of this study was to quantify how much the value recovery at a sawmill could be increased, if bucking decisions took advantage of additional measurement data and a sawing simulator to estimate log values. A simulation study on 1582 Scots pine stems was performed to compare bucking based on a two-dimensional diameter profile with bucking that maximises log value based on either optical scanning alone, or both optical and CT scanning. For log positioning, both the traditional "horns-down" position, and value-maximising rotation based on CT scanning were considered. The results show that bucking based on optical scanning alone can potentially increase the value of sawn timber by up to 5%, and CT scanning before bucking provides little additional value for a sawmill using a CT scanner to optimise log rotation.
ISSN:1748-0272
1748-0280
DOI:10.1080/17480272.2019.1672787