Deciduous forest

Project: ForestValue Hardwood joint - Innovative joints in hardwoods

The overall project objective is to foster high-performance hardwood structures in the European building sector by developing economic, reliable and innovative joint technologies for hardwood members and the design thereof. The objective is to pave the way for using more hardwood products in the building industry by giving added value to hardwood species which are currently mainly used as fuelwood.

About the project

Project manager
Thomas K. Bader
Project members
Michael Schweigler
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Graz University of Technology, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Technologies et Industries du Bois
Financing organization
Vinnova, Energimyndigheten and Formas (ForestValue, European Commission)
Timetable
February 2019-January 2022
Subject
Building Technology (Department of Building Technology, Faculty of Technology)

More about the project

The existing hardwood stocks in Europe’s forests are increasing, making them a significantly underutilised potential. Hardwood lends itself to high volume use in engineered structures. However, efficient mechanical joints for hardwood structures are widely missing which prevents the effective and economical use of structural hardwoods. To overcome this barrier, economic, reliable and innovative joint technologies for hardwood members are developed and design rules are derived.

Numerical calculation of load and deformation properties of connections in hardwood are expected to enhance our understanding of the load transfer in hardwood joints. Based on findings of numerical modeling, engineering methods for an efficient and economical design will be developed.