Competence goals

After the successful completion of the module, the students are able to differentiate construction types, used in modern timber buildings, and to design wall, floor and roof elements used in timber frame construction. The students know the state-of-the-art in construction with plane timber elements including cross-laminated timber and timber-concrete composites. The students are able to design plane timber elements under special consideration of shear deformations, including gamma-method and shear analogy.

The students are able to design large-span timber structures under consideration of the special characteristics of timber as a construction material, i.e. taking into account the anisotropic behavior of wood and its reaction to moisture. The students are able to understand the particularities in the design of beams with special structural forms and to perform stability verifications under consideration of the stiffness of connections. They are able to design important details, connections and related reinforcement.

Content

Based on the contents taught on Bachelors level (e.g. Basics in Timber Structures), the students receive further insight into the design of elements used in modern timber construction. Within this, the first focus is given to plane elements made of crosslaminated timber and timber-concrete composites. The second focus is on the design of large-span timber structures.

The subjects covered can be defined as follows:

• timber houses: structural typologies and development
• wall and floor elements
• cross-laminated timber: Characteristics and design
• timber-concrete-composite structures
• timber products and structural elements in timber engineering
• connections and stiffness of connections
• glued connections
• reinforcement of connections
• stability and bracing systems
• notched beams and holes in beams
• structural fire design

All topics are accompanied by exercise sessions in which the essential design methods are applied.

Literature

• PowerPoint slides. Scriptum of exercise session. Notes of the students, taken during lectures, are necessary.
• Scriptum to specific course contents
• EN 1995-1-1 with DIN EN 1995-1-1/NA:2013-08 Secondary literature:
• Blaß, H.-J., Sandhaas, C.; Timber Engineering; KIT Scientific Publishing; 2017
• Wallner-Novak, M. et al.; Cross-laminated timber; Part 1: Structural design, Part 2: Applications; pro Holz; 2014 / 2018

Lecture notes

Available via ILIAS (access only for students at KIT).