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Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications
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Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 14878

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohammad Derikvand

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
InnoRenew Centre of Excellence, Livade 6a, Izola, Slovenia
Interests: engineered wood products; timber processing; timber structures; timber–concrete composites; timber connections
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nathan Kotlarewski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood (CSAW), University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250, Australia
Interests: industrial design; timber design and innovation; timber processing and manufacturing; mass timber
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Akbar Rostampour Haftkhani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
Interests: timber engineering; mechanics of engineered wood products; computer-aided design of timber structures and furniture; physical and mechanical properties of wood and wood-based composites

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, concerns over global warming have led to an increase in the consideration of timber materials for various building applications. Timber is renewable, reusable, and recyclable and therefore is a sustainable alternative to most traditional building materials with undesirable environmental impacts. Nowadays, several industrial approaches exist to develop solid timber into more sophisticated, fit-for-purpose engineered wood products (EWPs). EWPs can be produced in a variety of sizes to suit various applications, and depending on the product type, they can offer more dimensional stability and greater structural capacity than solid timber. The featured pattern of timber products also adds warmth and character, which makes them suitable for architectural building applications as well.

To date, several countries have already utilized EWPs to construct multi-story buildings and other complex structures. Nevertheless, at the global level, the adoption of EWPs in the modern construction industry is still in its early stages. Further increase in the pace of adoption requires continuous research and development to better understand the performance of timber-based solutions in building applications and address any shortcomings.

This Special Issue (SI) aims to collect scientific contributions in two categories as follows:

  • Opinion Papers or Perspective Papers: Papers aiming to give insights into the emerging opportunities, existing challenges, and future needs related to the structural or architectural use of timber products in the built environment. The authors of the Opinion or Perspective Papers can first contact the editorial team to discuss the suitability of the subjects.
  • Research Papers: High-quality research papers on developing and/or testing the performance of timber products for novel building applications. This can include in situ or laboratory investigations on building elements as well as their connection systems. Papers reporting experimental and or numerical studies are encouraged.

Dr. Mohammad Derikvand
Dr. Nathan Kotlarewski
Dr. Akbar Rostampour Haftkhani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • timber buildings
  • engineered wood products
  • laminated veneer lumber
  • cross laminated timber
  • glued laminated timber
  • dowel laminated timber
  • timber I-beams
  • mass plywood
  • timber connections
  • timber engineering

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 5361 KiB  
Article
Behavior of Cross-Laminated Timber Panels Made from Fibre-Managed Eucalyptus nitens under Short-Term Serviceability Loads
by Yingwei Liang, Assaad Taoum, Nathan Kotlarewski, Andrew Chan and Damien Holloway
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 245; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010245 - 15 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2653
Abstract
In this study, the preliminary serviceability performance of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels constructed from fibre-managed Eucalyptus nitens (E. nitens) was investigated via bending and vibration tests. Linear four-point bending tests were performed to determine the stiffness and deflection of all CLT [...] Read more.
In this study, the preliminary serviceability performance of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels constructed from fibre-managed Eucalyptus nitens (E. nitens) was investigated via bending and vibration tests. Linear four-point bending tests were performed to determine the stiffness and deflection of all CLT panels under serviceability loads. The dynamic response of CLT panels was tested using a basketball and an accelerometer. The fundamental natural frequencies of all tested panels were above the minimum frequency limit (8 Hz) when extrapolated to spans of up to 4.4 m. The configurations of E. nitens CLT panels were based on different modulus of elasticity (MOE) values for each board. Using higher MOE timber boards as the top and bottom layers can significantly increase the serviceability performance of both bending and vibration tests. The same experiments were carried out on two CLT panels made of strength class C24 Spruce-Pine-Fir to compare the serviceability performance of E. nitens CLT. The results demonstrated that E. nitens is a reliable resource for CLT manufacturing, and exhibits better serviceability performance compared to Spruce CLT. This provides more sustainable options for a species traditionally destined for pulp. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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17 pages, 2987 KiB  
Article
Structural Properties of Commercial Australian Plantation Hardwood CLT
by Mateo Gutierrez, Azin Ettelaei, Nathan Kotlarewski and Michael Lee
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010208 - 12 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1596
Abstract
Significant volumes of plantation hardwood are available in Australia to produce value-added engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT). To validate the possibility of utilising this available resource, the bending structural properties of plantation Eucalyptus nitens solid board and finger-jointed feedstock were [...] Read more.
Significant volumes of plantation hardwood are available in Australia to produce value-added engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT). To validate the possibility of utilising this available resource, the bending structural properties of plantation Eucalyptus nitens solid board and finger-jointed feedstock were measured. The studied CLT panels produced from finger-jointed lamellas were subjected to bending strength, bending stiffness, rolling shear strength in bending, and pure rolling shear tests to obtain characteristic design values. Solid and finger-jointed timber test results suggested that boards used in longitudinal lamellas have a bending strength of 36.0 MPa and a modulus of elasticity (MOE) of 13,000 MPa. Finger-jointed timber in crossed lamellas presented a declared bending strength of 25.0 MPa. CLT panels showed a bending strength of 24.0 MPa and a rolling shear strength of 2.0 MPa. The experimental results for the CLT panels evidenced that the CLT bending stiffness matches up very well with the modelled results when an MOE of 13,000 MPa is used to describe the stiffness of longitudinal boards. The results presented in this study establish a basis for the commercial use of Australian plantation hardwood CLT in structural applications such as floors and roofs in commercial and residential buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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15 pages, 3078 KiB  
Article
Study on the Effect of Finger Joints on the Stiffness of Fibre-Managed E. nitens Sawn Boards
by Jian Hou, Assaad Taoum, Nathan Kotlarewski and Gregory Nolan
Buildings 2022, 12(12), 2078; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12122078 - 28 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1687
Abstract
Fibre-managed E. nitens has the potential to be used as a feedstock for engineered wood products. This resource, however, has a number of strength-reducing features that need to be removed, and the board needs to be re-joint to be useful in greater lengths [...] Read more.
Fibre-managed E. nitens has the potential to be used as a feedstock for engineered wood products. This resource, however, has a number of strength-reducing features that need to be removed, and the board needs to be re-joint to be useful in greater lengths for timber construction. A common jointing practice is finger jointing. The suitability of the finger jointing technique for this species is crucial to the mechanical properties of the final product. This study was conducted to explore the influence of finger jointing on the stiffness of sawn boards. A strict manufacturing process of docking and re-joining timber boards in the same location without removing strength-reducing features was conducted to compare the stiffness parameters before and after finger jointing with bending tests. A statistical analysis was conducted. The results showed that the frequency of finger joints along the board did not significantly impact the edgewise stiffness; however, the average flatwise stiffness of the samples with more finger joints was improved slightly. A 10% increase in the end pressure reduced the tip gap significantly but did not influence the stiffness. The finger joint efficiency was 0.824 for the edgewise stiffness of the samples and 1.034 for flatwise stiffness of the jointed sections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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14 pages, 3268 KiB  
Article
Janka Hardness Evaluation of Plantation-Grown Eucalyptus nitens for Engineered Flooring Applications
by Kuluni Millaniyage, Nathan Kotlarewski, Louise Wallis, Assaad Taoum and Gregory Nolan
Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1862; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111862 - 03 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2224
Abstract
Hardness is commonly used to determine the suitability of a timber species for flooring applications. In this study, Janka hardness test is conducted on sawlog managed Eucalyptus nitens and regrowth forest Eucalyptus obliqua sourced from Tasmania, Australia. Plantation E. nitens timber is currently [...] Read more.
Hardness is commonly used to determine the suitability of a timber species for flooring applications. In this study, Janka hardness test is conducted on sawlog managed Eucalyptus nitens and regrowth forest Eucalyptus obliqua sourced from Tasmania, Australia. Plantation E. nitens timber is currently entering the Australian market and the feasibility of using this fast grown species in value added applications such as timber flooring is advantageous. Further to testing Janka hardness on solid timber samples, a regime of engineered timber flooring prototypes consisting of plantation E. nitens top layers, veneers and solid densified E. nitens boards were developed and subjected to Janka hardness test. The results were compared against solid E. obliqua flooring and a commercially available engineered flooring product with Tasmanian Oak top layer. The results showed that Janka hardness of plantation grown E. nitens, and E. obliqua currently available in the market are lower than the values published in the literature. This indicates that the material properties of fast grown plantation timber and regrowth forest material are different to the native forest timber properties published decades earlier. Furthermore, some of the tested engineered flooring prototypes showed similar behaviour to timber flooring products currently in market, suggesting that E. nitens engineered flooring would be suitable for domestic/light commercial flooring applications despite the general conception of unsuitability due to lower densities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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21 pages, 6143 KiB  
Article
The Effect of GFRP Wrapping on Lateral Performance of Double Shear Lap Joints in Cross-Laminated Timber as a Part of Timber Bridges
by Akbar Rostampour Haftkhani, Maria Rashidi, Farshid Abdoli and Masood Gerami
Buildings 2022, 12(10), 1678; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101678 - 12 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1645
Abstract
Timber elements, such as timber bridges, are exposed to heavy loads. Therefore, reinforcement might be useful. Due to a lack of wood supplies, poplar, a fast-growing tree, could be used to construct CLT (cross-laminated timber). The low density of fast-growing wood species directly [...] Read more.
Timber elements, such as timber bridges, are exposed to heavy loads. Therefore, reinforcement might be useful. Due to a lack of wood supplies, poplar, a fast-growing tree, could be used to construct CLT (cross-laminated timber). The low density of fast-growing wood species directly impacts the mechanical properties of CLT. Therefore, in this study, a CLT panel was reinforced with GFRP (glass-fiber-reinforced polymer), and the lateral resistance of double shear lap joints in reinforced CLTs with 0-90-0° arrangements in two strength directions was investigated. Lag screws (Ø = 8 mm) at the end distances of 1 and 3 cm were employed for making the lateral test specimens. First, the effect of the number of GFRP layers on lateral resistance of the joints was investigated. The results revealed that, as the number of GFRP layers changed from one to three, the lateral resistance increased by 45.47%, and then, by four layers, it decreased by 1.3%. Since the joints with three layers of FRP had the highest strength, the effects of the end distance and the CLT panel strength directions on the lateral performance of the reinforced and non-reinforced specimens were investigated. The results indicated that the lateral resistance of reinforced CLTs with GFRP was about 26.5% more than the unreinforced ones. Moreover, CLTs in the major strength direction showed 4.2% more lateral resistance than those in the minor strength direction. Moreover, lag screws at the end distance of 3 cm had 60% more lateral resistance than those at the end distance of 1 cm. In terms of failure modes, bearing, shear, and net-tension modes were observed in the CLTs, while Is, IIIs, and IV modes were observed in the lag screws. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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18 pages, 4248 KiB  
Article
Effect of Layer Arrangement on Bending Strength of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Manufactured from Poplar (Populus deltoides L.)
by Akbar Rostampour Haftkhani and Hojat Hematabadi
Buildings 2022, 12(5), 608; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050608 - 06 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2264
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effect of layer arrangement on bending properties of CLT panels made from poplar (Populus deltoides L.). A total of 20 three-layer CLT panels with the same dimensions of 1300 × 360 × 48 mm3 (Length, [...] Read more.
This study aimed to investigate the effect of layer arrangement on bending properties of CLT panels made from poplar (Populus deltoides L.). A total of 20 three-layer CLT panels with the same dimensions of 1300 × 360 × 48 mm3 (Length, Width, Thickness) were fabricated in five configurations: 0/30/0, 0/45/0, 0/90/0, 45/0/45, and 45/45/45. The apparent modulus of elasticity (MOEapp), modulus of rupture (MOR) and apparent bending stiffness (EIapp) values in major and minor axes of CLT panels were calculated using experimental bending testing. In the major axis, the highest values of MOR, MOEapp, and EIapp were obtained from the 0/30/0 arrangement, while the least values resulted from the arrangements of 90/60/90 and 90/45/90 in the minor axis. Besides, in all arrangements, the average of the experimental apparent bending stiffness values (EIapp,exp) of specimens was higher than that of the shear analogy apparent bending stiffness values (EIapp,shear). The bending and shear stress distribution values over the cross section of samples were also estimated using the finite element method. Moreover, the numerical apparent bending stiffness (EIapp,fem) values of samples were compared to experimental apparent bending stiffness (EIapp,exp) values. Based on experimental and finite element method results, in all groups of layer arrangements, the EIapp,fem values concurred well with the EIapp,exp values. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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7 pages, 232 KiB  
Opinion
Design for Deconstruction: Benefits, Challenges, and Outlook for Timber–Concrete Composite Floors
by Mohammad Derikvand and Gerhard Fink
Buildings 2023, 13(7), 1754; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13071754 - 10 Jul 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1294
Abstract
Design for deconstruction (DfD) considers the end-of-life scenario of buildings at an early design stage to ensure that these buildings (or parts of the buildings) can be deconstructed without unproportional effort and material loss. After deconstruction, the elements or materials can be used [...] Read more.
Design for deconstruction (DfD) considers the end-of-life scenario of buildings at an early design stage to ensure that these buildings (or parts of the buildings) can be deconstructed without unproportional effort and material loss. After deconstruction, the elements or materials can be used for future purposes such as reusing (preferably), remanufacturing, or recycling. This opinion paper is aimed to advocate for DfD in timber–concrete composite (TCC) floors as it represents an important contribution toward circular economy design and creates a more sustainable built environment. Different end-of-life scenarios for TCC floors according to their original design and connection type were initially explored. Existing deconstructable connection systems that could enable DfD in TCC floors were reviewed. Furthermore, potential challenges relating to the implementation of DfD in TCC floors are briefly highlighted. Finally, a discussion around the outlook and actions that might be needed to address some of the identified challenges is provided. This paper proposes directions for future developments and contributes to the understanding and promotion of DfD in TCC floors with an emphasis on deconstructable connectors that can enable material recovery and reuse as the preferred end-of-life scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adoption of Engineered Wood Products in Building Applications)
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