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BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram

ForestValue2 JC2023 - InCREased Service life of innovative TIMber Building systems (CRESTIMB)

Alternative title: ForestValue2 JC2023 - CRESTIMB: Økt levetid for innovative trebaserte byggesystemer

Awarded: NOK 2.9 mill.

CRESTIMB aims to develop an innovative timber building system, suitable for multi-storey buildings with open spaces. The proposed system will include moment-resisting frames made of softwood or hardwood glue-laminated timber with innovative beam-to-column connections, and dowel cross laminated floor panels. Increasing circularity and prolonging the service life of buildings and structural components are steps forward towards more sustainable, resource-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly construction. To achieve this, the system will be designed to facilitate easy and simple assembly, disassembly and re-assembly of its components. Buildings are subjected to permanent loads and climate variations (humidity and temperature) during their service life. Permanent loading and climate variations can significantly affect the response of the components of timber buildings. In order to achieve increased service-life, it is important to investigate the long-term behavior of the components of the system (glulam beams, innovative beam-to-column connections, and dowel cross laminated floor panels). Moreover, permanent loading and climate variations can result in permanent deformations and the connections of the system should provide sufficient tolerances to achieve a system which facilitates easy de-assembly and re-assembly. The project will investigate the long-term behavior the components of the system by use of experimental and numerical methods, taking also into account climate variations that are expected to occur in buildings during their service life. Based on these results, the project will quantify the effect of permanent loading and climate variations on the response of the system and propose design recommendations.

CRESTIMB aims to develop an innovative timber system suitable for multi-storey buildings with open spaces. The proposed system will include moment-resisting frames made of softwood or hardwood glue-laminated timber with innovative beam-to-column connections, and dowel cross laminated floor panels. With the objective to ensure an increased service life and the possibility of reuse, the long-term behaviour of the system components will be investigated with an advanced numerical model including the rheology of wood under variable indoor climates. The numerical analyses will be assisted by experiments on softwood and hardwood samples, as well as full size tests. The analysis results, in terms of creep deformations, moisture induced stresses and the related crack risk, will be applied in environmental assessment studies including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The proposed approach assumes that the long-term response of timber building systems under variable indoor climates can be optimized by using numerical modelling. Therefore, CRESTIMB will contribute to bridging the gap between advanced wood material models and innovative timber structure design for the development of a new generation of multi-storey residential and office buildings with open spaces.

Funding scheme:

BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram