Completed Projects

Objective: The objectives of the project are:

1. To develop a method for ensuring future possibility of circulation of timber products with true consideration of the whole life-cycle, and practical industry issues at design, construction and deconstruction phases.
2. To plan primary design to facilitate deconstruction rather than demolition, and to pay attention to the use of chemical treatments, adhesives and other synthetic materials, including deciding whether their use is technically necessary and avoiding over-specification.
3. To optimise the primary design to enhance resource efficiency as well as reduce environmental impacts along the life cycle.
4. To allow grading for quality of recovered wood, and similarly variable new wood from more diverse sources, in a way that is compatible and equivalent to grading of new timber from main commercial species.
5. To identify potential new construction products using recovered timber.
6. To examine the business, economic and environmental factors over the life-cycle to inform what is to be optimized, encouraged and avoided in design.
7. To inform current engineers, architects and wood-based construction product manufacturers through professional development, industry bodies, codes and standards.

Objective: This project aims to investigate novel and potential added-value uses of Irish hardwood thinnings. This will be achieved by undertaking a study of the current status of the resource to quantify the available dimensions from first and second thinnings. The physical and structural properties of the material will be determined through experimental testing. A drying and durability study will be carried out. Based on the information arising out of these investigations, potential end-uses of the material will be identified, both in roundwood form and as engineered wood products, in addition to wood energy products.

Summary: In recent times there has been an increased demand for the use of sustainable construction materials to meet environmental targets related to energy use and emissions. One of the most promising construction materials meeting these targets is cross-laminated timber (CLT). The project ‘Innovation in Irish Timber Usage’ confirmed that there is potential in using Irish Sitka spruce for CLT manufacture, presenting new opportunities for Irish timber in the home and export markets. A niche product with strong commercialisation potential, a CLT modular floor system, was identified. This project further developed this product for market launch. Further verification of mechanical performance was carried out, and suitable metallic connectors were investigated when used in combination with Irish-made CLT flooring systems.

Objectives: This collaborative project between Ireland, France and Germany aims to:

• Use modelling approaches to present options for ensuring the quantity of future wood supply from forests under changing climate conditions.
• Develop new approaches for allocation of raw material to end products, increasing production efficiency and reducing waste.
• Identify means to improve social acceptance of intensively managed forests.

Objective: This project was established to:

• Develop a measurement method that allows the heat flow rate through a thermal bridge in an external building envelope and its Ψ-value to be quantified by means of infrared thermography technique.
• Apply the methodology to indoor conditions for single and multiple thermal bridges.
• Adapt the methodology to outdoor conditions and investigate the influence of different wind velocities on the assessment of heat loss through thermal bridges using ITT.

Summary: To increase the utilisation of Irish timber in construction, research was carried out to establish the mechanical and physical properties of the current forest output. It was found that the mechanical and physical properties of Irish Sitka spruce have not changed significantly over the last 25 years, and MOE was found to be the limiting factor for strength classification. Novel engineered wood products suitable for Irish timber were developed, with two key areas addressed: fibre-reinforced polymer reinforced timber and cross-laminated timber (CLT). The viability of glued-in basalt fibre reinforced polymer rods as reinforcement for timber beams and connections was established. The potential use of Irish Sitka spruce in CLT production was also investigated, and a niche product for commercialisation, a CLT modular floor system, was identified.

Objective: Forest management practices are currently based on optimising production volume rather than structural quality. Researchers at Teagasc have undertaken studies to determine the influence of various thinning practices on the growth and development of the forest crop. However, there are no comprehensive studies on the effect of silvicultural practices on the structural performance of Irish-grown timber. This study will endeavour to correlate the structural properties with different thinning systems across different tree species in order to optimise silvicultural practices that will allow, in future, an increase in yields of timber grown for construction purposes.

Objective: The objective of the research is to characterise the boundary conditions imposed on timber floor systems due to the fixing configurations, and to determine their influence on the deflection and vibration behaviour of the floor.

Summary: This research involved a detailed investigation into the total environmental impacts associated with the production of forestry and construction wood products using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a process-based environmental assessment methodology. A national energy-based Input-Output LCA tool was also developed to quantify the environmental effects of products or services from a given industry based on economic value. Using a hybrid of these approaches, the total environmental impacts of forestry and wood-based products were quantified. The comparative environmental advantages of sustainably harvested wood construction products were then assessed by examining existing and planned structures over their whole life cycle.