Book excerpt: Wood Fracture Characterization provides a guide to the application of modern fracture mechanics concepts to wood materials used in structural engineering, which commonly involve discontinuities and irregularities. The authors cover the tests, data reduction schemes and numerical methods devised for wood structural applications, based on cohesive zone analysis, and used to validate experimental-based methodologies. Five detailed Case Studies are included to link theory with engineering practice. This important new text explains the basics of fracture mechanics, and extends them as needed to cover the special behaviour of an anisotropic wood materials.