When green marketing meets reality: selected facts about sustainable house building

Since 2012, Life Cycle Engineering Experts (LCEE) have carried out a series of comprehensive studies into the sustainability of market‐relevant (also potentially) construction methods in German housing ([1] to [4]). The methodical basis was a systematic application of the sustainability assessment approach of the Deutsches Gütesiegel Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB) applied to representative model buildings from the detached house and apartment building sectors (see Figs. 1 and 2). The key findings have been compressed into themed fact sheets intended to ensure appropriate knowledge and information transfer to various recipients. As a contribution to less marketing and more reality, the following paper outlines the lessons learnt from selected example fact sheets concerning sustainable housing.     

Gesteckt und gestapelt – Der Werkhof Andelfingen (CH) als moderner Industrie‐Strickbau

Plugged and stacked – the maintenance depot in Andelfingen (CH) as a modern industrial log construction In 2015 a new maintenance depot for utility vehicles was built in Andelfingen (Canton Zurich). The building is 16.50 m wide and 30 m long with a height of 8 m and was supposed to be constructed in wood. Referring to the simpilicity of an assembly set, planar components have been developed for the roof and the walls integrating both the load bearing structure and the building envelope and allowing for a simple and fast assembly. This was possible because of modern industrial fabrication techniques which allow to transfer the traditional log construction to a large scale industrial building type. The process of stacking and plugging 2 m high laminated timber components with the length of the entire building, the slotting of the roof beams into the wall and the multilayer board on top rendered possible a timber building with only a few additional iron fasteners put together in only 4 d. Only through close cooperation of architects, engineers and contractors a strong relation of the building material, the construction principle, the building structure and its architectural expression is achieved.     

Holzbrücken – Erkenntnisse zum Feuchteverhalten in den Tragquerschnitten aus Langzeitmessungen

Timber bridges – Long term monitoring results of moisture diffusion in the load carrying cross‐sections Timber road bridges have been built worldwide for centuries. The high performance of wood is approved through many constructions. However, there are still doubts about using wood by the planning engineer, which reduce the number of realized projects. The moisture induced stresses in cross‐sections according to the varied ambient climate are mainly investigated under laboratory conditions. The results show that the moisture content changes differently over the cross‐section and leads to moisture induced stresses. The discussion about methods for the assessment of the moisture induced stresses in timber bridge cross‐ections is continuing. Results observed in the long term monitoring of seven timber bridges provide first guidelines for practitioners. For all constructions, the moisture content was measured regarding the ambient micro climate. As result, the influences according to the ambient micro climate are not insignificant. Positive is that the directly measured moisture content is less compared to the equilibrium moisture content calculated from the data of a close by meteorological station. The analysis of the moisture gradient over the cross‐section allows the definition of an active or passive zone.     

Verbundverhalten von Vollgewindeschrauben in Brettschichtholzbauteilen

Bond behaviour of self‐tapping screws being used as reinforcement in glue‐laminated timber elements – Part 2: Analytical and numerical investigations as well bond model derivation for the calculation of anchorage length In favor of the investigation of bond behaviour, force transfer and anchorage length of self‐tapping screws, several tests have been realized at the Chair of Structures and Structural Design in cooperation with the Institute for Building Material Research of the RWTH Aachen University. The experimental investigations comprise more than 160 pull‐out tests of screws with long embedment length and over 84 load distributions tests. Additionally, several tests displaying the effect of longitudinal cracks in the surrounding wood as well as the effect of the screw tip have been conducted. Through various analyses of the bond behaviour, the experimental investigations form the basis for the calibration and evaluation of the numerical models and allow a prediction of the force transfer of the screws in glue‐laminated elements. Design rules that enable the application of the self‐tapping screws as reinforcement in timber elements have been derived from the knowledge obtained in the experimental and numerical investigations. This paper, which results from a research project funded by the German Research Foundation [1], presents the results of investigations on the bond behavior of self‐tapping screws in glue‐laminated timber elements. Part 1 elaborates on the experimental investigations [2] whereas part 2 illustrates the numerical analyses and presents a bond model, which enables the design of the anchorage length and the safe application of the screws as reinforcement in timber elements.