Application Methods of Curved Wood Components

Associated Project 3 (AP 3)

IntCDC Associated Project 3 – Application Methods of Curved Wood Components
DESIGN, FABRICATION AND ENGINEERING METHODS FOR THE APPLICATION OF CURVED WOOD COMPONENTS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE AND RESOURCE-EFFICIENT WOOD CONSTRUCTION

The aim of the research project is to use innovative, high curvature timber components for load-bearing, resource-efficient building structures.

The market for prefabricated timber components, in particular CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) systems, is currently growing rapidly. These systems offer high-precision manufacturing with short construction times on site and significantly reduce the negative impact of construction sites and waste on the environment. In timber construction, however, components are typically flat plates, straight beams, or slightly curved beams. Curved components represent only a small portion of the market with a process that is associated with high costs and that involves demanding wood processing, large amounts of material waste and high machining costs. Curvature can significantly increase the load-bearing capacity of a building component and at the same time significantly reduce material requirements. However, the aforementioned factors have so far excluded wood from use for high load-bearing curved building structures in favor of less environmentally friendly materials such as concrete, steel or plastics. The innovative character of this project consists of the development and application of new, high curvature BSPH (CLT) building systems. The advantages of the systems will expand the use of timber as a fully sustainable building material.

 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

Prof. Achim Menges
Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), University of Stuttgart
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Knippers
Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), University of Stuttgart

RESEARCHERS

Simon Bechert (ITKE)
Dylan Wood (ICD)

FUNDING

German Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU Az. 34714/01)
 

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

  1. 2021

    1. Bechert, S., Aldinger, L., Wood, D., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2021). Urbach Tower: Integrative structural design of a lightweight structure made of self-shaped curved cross-laminated timber. Structures, 33, 3667--3681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.istruc.2021.06.073

  2. 2020

    1. Wood, D., Gronquist, P., Bechert, S., Aldinger, L., Riggenbach, D., Lehmann, K., Ruggeberg, M., Bugert, I., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2020). From Machine Control to Material Programming: Self-Shaping Wood Manufacturing of a High Performance Curved CLT Structure -- Urbach Tower. Fabricate 2020: Making Resilient Architecture, 50--57.

  3. 2019

    1. Aldinger, L., Bechert, S., Wood, D., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2019). Design and Structural Modelling of Surface-Active Timber Structures Made from Curved CLT – Urbach Tower, Remstal Gartenschau 2019. Impact: Design With All Senses Proceedings of the Design Modelling Symposium 2019, 419--432. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29829-6 33
    2. Grönquist, P., Wood, D., Hassani, M., Wittel, F. K., Menges, A., & Ruggeberg, M. (2019). Analysis of hygroscopic self-shaping wood at large scale for curved mass timber structures. Science Advances, 5(9), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax1311

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

    DATA SETS

          

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