Research

At the Institute of Building Construction and Timber Structures a multitude of timber construction specific problems can be solved by the broad knowledge of its staff, ranging from questions of spatial and planar mechanics of current and historical constructions, to questions of material behaviour and material simulation, to building physics and building maintenance. In addition, the knowledge, experience and equipment of the Fraunhofer WKI and the MFPA Leipzig can be accessed through cooperation.

 

Core capabilities
  • Timber structures
  • Building construction
  • Building physics
  • Construction in existing contexts
Emphases
  • Historical timber structures
  • Building conservation
  • Vertical building extension
  • Multi-storey timber constructions
  • Renewable materials
  • Timber panel construction
  • Fatigue
  • Adhesive bonding technology in timber construction

Current research projects

Serviceability and comfort of dynamically loaded timber structures in urban multi-storey building construction

Projektlogo DBH

The aim of the research project is the analysis of vibration and shock phenomena in modern, urban timber structures as well as the development of specific guidelines in the form of technical recommendations and digital supply of measurement and result data for planners and project developers. Thus, important contributions are made to the prevention of design flaws due to insufficient consideration of vibration-dependent comfort properties of timber structures.

Further information in German here.

Contact: Yannick Plüss, M.Sc.


Repair connection with wooden wedged dowels. New and alternative repair method that meets the demands of Monument Protection of built substance’s gentle care and material fairness.

Holzkeildolle

The aim of the project is the development of a guideline for the static-constructive use of timber-timber repair joints with timber rowlocks. The guideline will help the various parties involved in the preservation of monuments to be able to represent the method of construction both professionally and also in accordance with building law. It should contain the manufacturing and assembly techniques, the general mechanical principles, the static modelling and the representation of the load-bearing capacity and the deformation behaviour of the repair joint with the wedged timber rowlock. The guideline will present the relevant stress cases of these timber-timber joints and define the application-specific repair details and main application parameters. For these best practice examples, a structural design concept will be developed in order to put the timber rowlock joints in a verifiable relation to the metal joints, which have been preferred so far.

Further information in German here.

Contact: Dr.-Ing. Elena Perria

Interim Report (german)


Investigation of the requirements for the components of thermal insulation systems in timber construction by determining the functional relationships between the properties of the system components

The goal of this research project is to develop a numerical model taking into account the interaction of humidity, temperature and anisotropic mechanical material properties for wood fibre insulating boards. The model is intended to determine the effects of the specific properties of the individual components of a thermal insulation system on the overall system.

Further information here.

Contact: Xinyi Li, M.Sc.

Fatigue behaviour of notches and self-tapping timber screws in the context of their use as joints in timber-concrete composite girders

In this cooperation project with the University of Stuttgart, the fatigue behaviour of self-tapping timber screws is investigated with the intention of enabling safe and economical applications under fatigue loading. For this purpose, the fatigue behaviour of connections in three loading conditions (shear, withdrawal, combined loading) is fundamentally investigated and design rules for the fatigue load case are derived.

Contact: Peter Niebuhr, M.Sc.

Completed research projects