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by Rebecca Wallace, Public Affairs Specialist

The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has been an international leader in forest products research for nearly a century. But while FPL's research has evolved to meet the needs of modern society, much of the work is being conducted in outdated facilities. As a result, a new combined research facility called the Multi-Use Laboratory (MUL) has been designed. Construction is slated to begin this summer, with completion estimated just in time for FPL's centennial in 2010.

Forest Products Laboratory MUL renderings.

"The Administration and the Congress have recognized the need to modernize our facilities," said Chris Risbrudt, Director of the FPL. "We appreciate their support, which will allow us to continue to develop innovations that benefit the American consumer." The $36 million facility will house state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories for four major areas of research: wood preservation, durability, engineering mechanics, and composite sciences. All of these laboratories are currently located in buildings that are not suitable for modern research. "The current buildings have simply outlived their useful lives when it comes to research," said FPL engineer Steve Kalinosky. "That's not to say the buildings aren't useful for other purposes, but they just don't have the capacity to fully support FPL's research projects."

Kalinosky says that the main reasons behind the development of a new research facility are safety concerns with the existing arrangement and the fact that the condition of the current facilities is putting limitations on what researchers are able to accomplish. "The electrical and structural capacity of the current structures is insufficient for today's research," said Kalinosky. "Also, the lack of temperature and humidity controls, space limitations, and lack of material handling capabilities severely limit the efficiency of many research projects." The buildings now housing these projects were not constructed with research in mind; in fact, composites research is currently performed in buildings constructed in the 1930s that were intended to serve as temporary structures.

The new MUL has been designed to keep similar situations from happening in the future. "This structure is being built not only for current research needs, but with the research of the next 50 years in mind," said Kalinosky. The MUL will enable researchers to bring their projects to the forefront of forest products research, and each of the four research areas will have capabilities well beyond their current state. The engineering mechanics laboratory will be constructed of strong wall and floor systems that will enable researchers to perform full-scale testing of wood-framed building mockups and large wood structural members. Large open-bay floor areas will accommodate large testing equipment.

Composite sciences research will also benefit from the open-bay floor areas; they will accommodate large manufacturing equipment, including state-of-the-art compounders, extruders, injection-molders, and hot presses. The wood preservation laboratory will include microbiology and chemistry labs and a pilot-scale pressure treatment facility to replace the 75-year-old riveted vessels they currently employ. Potential safety concerns in the current preservation lab, including inefficient ventilation and pedestrian traffic flowing past test equipment, will be eliminated in the MUL.

Carol Clausen, Supervisory Microbiologist and project leader for durability and preservation research, commented on another important benefit the MUL will provide. "The antiquated facilities currently in use limit the scope of collaborative research opportunities for FPL," said Clausen. "The MUL will not only benefit our scientists and their projects, but will also attract new collaborations from industrial partners and visiting university scientists."

Durability research, which studies the effects of moisture on wood products, will utilize one of the most notable features of the new laboratory: a one-of-a-kind custom-made stainless steel weathering chamber that mimics actual weather conditions, including temperature, humidity, sunlight, wind, and rain. A laboratory designed to study moisture transport properties of wood products will also be constructed. The building itself looks to be as impressive as the research being conducted inside. The combined steel and wood structure will provide approximately 90,000 square feet of space and will include an interior observation area as well as glazing along a main roadway to allow pedestrians a view of the interior functions. The MUL was designed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Engineering, Inc., of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with HDR, Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska.