The interest in using wood, which is currently the only truly renewable building material, has increased enormously in recent years.
– It’s encouraging to see that both knowledge and interest are increasing, as the construction and civil engineering sector accounts for about 20 percent of Sweden’s climate emissions. Wood is an exciting material with so much to learn about. It’s fascinating to study how the material works, why it looks the way it does, and how it can best be used in building structures. This is still a relatively new research field, and it becomes more exciting the more we learn, says Thomas Bader.
At Linnaeus University, cutting-edge research is conducted on many different aspects of timber construction technology. Thomas’s area of focus is material and structural mechanics, which involves studying how materials are structured and what properties they possess. He explains that this includes everything from the strength of the material to how much load it can take and how stiff it is, meaning how much it deforms when subjected to loading.
Developing models for the buildings of tomorrow
– You could say my research consists of two parts: experiments in the lab and development of computer models. It’s about wood mechanics and timber engineering – in other words, how we build and create safe structures and how we can optimise timber-based building systems. The goal is to develop computational models that designers can use to design future timber buildings.
As the head of the research environment Wood Building Technology, Thomas is involved in many projects with collaborators from industry, municipalities, and academia. One example is the eight-year collaborative project Competitive Timber Structures – Resource efficiency and climate benefits along the wood value chain through engineering design, supported by the Knowledge Foundation.
A 135 million kronor initiative
In this project, researchers from Linnaeus University, together with 18 partners from industry, will study how timber-based products and structures can be improved in terms of, for instance, resource efficiency and performance. The Knowledge Foundation is contributing 48 million kronor, and together with the contributions from the companies and Linnaeus University themselves, this gives a total budget of 135 million kronor.
– Being able to work in collaboration with stakeholders from, for example, industry or a municipality is exciting and rewarding – it’s when we join forces that we can create tomorrow’s sustainable buildings. We aim to take a comprehensive approach to the entire value chain, from the forest, through the development and production of materials and components, to ensuring high performance and a long lifespan for buildings. I hope this research can lead to new knowledge that contributes to a climate-neutral or more climate-positive construction sector.
An important factor in the advancement of timber construction is the development of cross-laminated timber, known as CLT, which is similar to plywood but in a larger format. By gluing together multiple layers of wood, it is possible to create wooden panels with high form stability and load-bearing capacity relative to their own weight.
Thomas K Bader
Professor
Thomas Bader is originally from Austria and holds a habilitation in mechanics of materials and structures from TU Wien. He joined Linnaeus University in 2015 and was head of the Department of Building Technology from 2018 to 2024. Since 2019, he has been a professor of building technology.
FUNDS AWARDED SINCE 2016
SEK 67.3 million Funder: The Knowledge Foundation
SEK 8.6 million Funders: Formas, Smart Housing Småland, Södra’s Foundation for Research, Development, and Education, Vinnova, Växjö municipality
A state-of-the-art laboratory
The large laboratory hall at the Department of Building Technology is equipped with advanced and unique tools for investigating and testing everything from small building components to full-scale structures.
Examples of tests include strength, fatigue, dynamic testing, acoustics, temperature, humidity, vibrations, climate impact, and strength grading using artificial intelligence. Tests can also be conducted at construction sites and in existing buildings. The measurement and testing equipment is state-of-the-art and is continuously updated.
I hope this research can lead to new knowledge that contributes to a climate-neutral or more climate-positive construction sector.
– We have a successful research group working with cross-laminated timber. We recently completed a project together with Swedish companies in the construction and timber industries, focusing on improving the competitiveness of building systems based on cross-laminated timber.
Great potential to reduce climate impact
There is much to build on based on the results and the research is now continuing and expanding through the project Competitive timber structures.
– Life cycle analyses of buildings, one of the results from the project, show that there is potential to reduce the climate impact of CLT buildings by up to 40 percent by optimising structural elements, building systems, and risk management throughout the buildings’ lifespans, compared to previous construction methods, says Thomas.
– One of the best things about my job is all the collaboration, both with partners from other universities and with industry and municipalities. Linnaeus University has a prominent role in research related to timber construction, and it’s great that there’s interest in visiting us, seeing how we work, and initiating partnerships. We’re open to all opportunities and are happy to invite companies in the construction sector to our lab to test their products.