No abstract

In the 20 years since its invention in Europe, cross-laminated timber (CLT) has become a widely used construction material in parts of the old continent and has started to attract global attention. CLT possesses numerous advantages as a construction material, including its superior structural and environmental performance, as well as the speed and efficiency with which CLT buildings can be erected. In this study, European engineers were surveyed to learn about their current level of awareness of CLT, the major barriers to CLT adoption, and about the most pressing research needs to advance the use of CLT as a construction material. The study used a web-based survey with a convenience sample of 93 different kinds of timber and civil engineers and/or researchers, most of which belong to a European CLT research network. Results showed that participants think that, in general, the level of awareness about CLT among developers, construction managers, engineers, architects, and construction managers, is low. The majority of perceived barriers for CLT adoption involved its building code compatibility and the availability of technical information. The most pressing research needs for CLT development, according to respondents, are in the areas of structural performance and connections, moisture performance, and market research.

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a building system based on the use of massive, multi-layered solid wood panels. Although CLT as a construction system has been successful in Europe, only a handful of CLT projects have been built in the U.S. This manuscript presents the results from qualitative research, carried out with the objective of assessing the market potential and barriers to the adoption of CLT in the U.S. Insights from national and international experts were collected using semi-structured interviews. Topics included perceived benefits and disadvantages of CLT as a construction system, major barriers to its adoption in the U.S., and level of awareness about CLT among the architecture community.

Kerfing is a lumber-drying improvement technique that consists of cuts along both sides of boards, transversal to the longitudinal axis. The rationale behind this procedure is that, by cutting the fibers, the moisture loss through the end-grain is increased. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of kerfing on drying time, warp occurrence, and bending properties, based on different experiments conducted during the last seven years. In most cases, kerfing reduced the drying time by half of that of the control samples. Results were inconclusive regarding reduction of warp. Regarding the bending strength of treated pieces, kerfing caused a minimum loss of moment of inertia in the piece, resulting in a slightly lower bending strength and higher stiffness. INTRODUCTIONWood has a number of properties that make it an excellent choice for a wide range of purposes. However, the mechanical properties and dimensional stability of wood, among other properties, are greatly affected by the amount and distribution of the water present in the wood cells. Because of this, the drying process becomes paramount for wood utilization. [1] The main purpose of lumber drying is to bring wood to a moisture content that facilitates its use, achieving dimensional stability once processed and during use. It has been established [2,3] that the presence of free water and bound water significantly increases the susceptibility of wood to fungal attack, so that wood's resistance to other agents of biodeterioriation and mechanical properties are also greatly improved by drying. [4] However, lumber drying is typically the most energy-consuming process; 70% or more of the energy used in lumber and veneer manufacturing goes into drying. [4,5] As concluded by Erickson, [5] energy consumption could be even higher for hardwood species due to the longer drying times required to achieve the desired final moisture content (MC). Moreover, drying is frequently the most time-consuming process in the wood products'