Wood and wood-based materials exhibit complex material behaviour that is both time- and direction-dependent, and is influenced by environmental factors (temperature, moisture). To broaden and optimize the application of these materials for new fasteners and construction techniques, it is essential to understand the principles of their properties and to represent them accurately in models. This enables reliable predictions of component behaviour in real-world applications. Research in collaboration with the Timber Construction department thus involves applying modern experimental methods across various length scales under specified environmental conditions, complemented and enhanced by numerical simulations of the microstructure of the wood as well as of components and fasteners.
Wood and wood-based materials: (above) experimental characterisation of the mechanical properties and (below) modelling and simulation of the behaviour of wood and the interaction with fasteners.