Housing shortage and environmental impact from the construction industry are major and urgent societal problems. Part of the solution to both of these may include increased use of wood-based products, with raw materials from long-term sustainable forestry and further processing. In the future, we will increasingly need to reuse already manufactured materials and components. At the same time, all new manufacturing will have a strong focus on minimizing material consumption and other resource use. All in all, this means that streamlining processes and optimizing materials and components is of great importance.

We work to develop knowledge about wood-based structural materials and develop methods for analysis that make more efficient use of materials possible in modern wood construction. Our division has a long tradition of studying wood and wood-based materials and questions such as when and how fracture occurs, how the material is affected by moisture variations, and questions concerning dynamic properties and vibrations. The research questions we focus on usually require approaches with combinations of physical measurements and computer simulations based on applied mechanics and applied mathematics.

Characterization of wood-based components and joints

In recent years, the research has dealt with the characterization of mechanical properties and development of calculation models for components of glulam, cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other wood-based materials. The research also includes applications linked to connection details and joints between structural elements, for example screw and dowel joints and adhesive joints. With measurements and calculations, we also investigate dynamic properties of various structures, for example vibration properties of wooden floors subjected to footsteps.

Fracture mechanics

Fracture mechanics calculation models are often used to understand and be able to predict the consequences of load situations that may cause initiation of cracking in the wood, for example beams with holes and notches and different types of joints.

Structural design standards

With increased knowledge about the mechanical behavior of different wood species and for different designs of structural elements, we want to contribute to increased material efficiency while maintaining safety for load-bearing structures. In this work, we contribute to the development of structural design standards and design guidelines for practical engineering work.