It is well known that timber structures succeed or fail in their
connections and significant technical advances and developments in the
field of timber connections have fostered the recent renaissance of
timber as a structural material. Self-tapping screws are prominent
amongst these innovations. They increase timber’s potential by enabling
strong, stiff and economic connections, widening the range for
structural applications. An increased range of connection types and
corresponding applications gives designers both opportunity and
challenge. The result is a noticeable trend towards systemized solutions
enabling quick and reliable assembly on site.
The behaviour of
structures must be both reliable and safe and, for this reason,
construction is highly controlled. This poses the challenge that
innovation has to take place inside a framework of regulation. A lack of
standardized design and construction principles for new developments
could result in a variety of applied approaches that might lead to a
lower reliability of structures at higher cost. A core objective for
COST Action FP1402 is to provide the knowledge and methods necessary to
bring these new developments into regulated building practice.
The
objective of this Conference is to record the current state-of-the-art
for connections in timber engineering, and to illustrate how new
developments will be adopted in the next generation of Timber Design
Standards (e.g. Eurocode 5:2022). It is an opportunity to hear
presentations from some of the world’s leading experts and to join
discussions on the design, application and performance of Connections in
Timber Engineering. There will be presentations on current performance
indicators, (e.g. strength, stiffness and ductile vs. brittle failure
modes), as well as applications of connections in cross-laminated timber
and timber-concrete composite structures. The Conference will also
include presentations on current developments of design rules (e.g. for
brittle failure modes, reinforcement and seismic design) and give an
outlook on the potential of numerical modelling and probabilistic
methods for future design of efficient and reliable connections.
It
is intended that this COST Action FP1402 Conference will contribute to a
high-quality and open scientific and technical dialogue within the
timber engineering community. It thereby adheres to the main principle
of the COST Programme, which is to strengthen Europe in scientific and
technological research, for peaceful purposes, through the support of
cooperation and interaction between researchers and practitioners.
For
many years, the team of the Institute of Timber Engineering and Wood
Technology at Graz University of Technology has been working at the
forefront of timber engineering research and innovation. In 2013, in
collaboration with COST Action FP1004, they hosted a very successful
“Conference on Cross Laminated Timber”. For this current Conference on
“Connections in Timber Engineering”, Graz University of Technology, with
COST Action FP1402, is once again bringing together researchers and
practitioners from around the world to increase understanding of current
and future timber connection research and to discuss applications.
Philipp Dietsch, Chair COST FP1402