Viability of cross-laminated timber from UK resources

Abstract

Cross-laminated timber is an innovative engineered timber product that can be used for almost all superstructure elements. It is typically produced from kiln-dried, fast-growing softwood timber. Currently there is no commercial production in the UK and hence the majority of cross-laminated timber used within the UK construction industry is manufactured in central mainland Europe and imported. This paper presents the key factors required for implementing a cross-laminated timber production and construction capability using available UK timber resource, thus offering a sustainable alternative to multi-storey steel and concrete construction. Further to this the structural performance of a cross-laminated timber product manufactured using a home-grown resource is compared with the current product imported from Europe. A series of standard design scenarios for multi-storey residential and education buildings in the UK have been considered and the structural design criteria reviewed for both products.

Effects of the thickness of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels made from Irish Sitka spruce on mechanical performance in bending and shear

“…It should be noted that values for groups B-3-24 and B-3-40 are from one specimen only, and should be treated with caution, however the standard deviations for B N/mm 2 , and 1.4 N/mm 2 , respectively. These strength results are slightly higher than results obtained for CLT made of Scottish Sitka spruce, by Crawford et al [37], which varied between 18 N/mm 2 and 35 N/mm 2 . The highest value in this study was found for the thinner panels.…”

“…Previous studies, which investigated the performance in bending, shear behaviour, and failure modes, confirmed its potential for production of engineered-wood products [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Furthermore, the mechanical behaviour of CLT panels made from Scottish Sitka spruce was investigated by Crawford et al [37]. Two 3-layer and one 5-layer CLT panels were prefabricated using 40 x 95 mm Sitka Spruce boards, graded to C16, and polyurethane (PUR) adhesive.…”

Feasibility of cross-laminated secondary timber

“…There is growing interest in use of locally abundant, under-utilised timber resources for which there are no established structural properties as CLT feedstock (Espinoza & Buehlmann 2018). Examples include the use of Sitka spruce (Crawford et al 2014;Crawford et al 2015;Sikora et al 2016), Italian marine pine (Fragiacomo et al 2015;Concu et al 2017), European beech (Franke 2016; (Liao et al 2017) and Japanese cedar (Okabe et al 2014). Investment in a new CLT and glulam plant in Alabama that exploits local Southern pine (Vloysky 2017) suggests that alternative feedstocks to those used in typical European CLT production can become economically viable if abundant local materials are used.…”

Cross-Laminated Secondary Timber: Experimental Testing and Modelling the Effect of Defects and Reduced Feedstock Properties

“…However, there is growing interest in and research on use of locally abundant, under-utilised timber resources for which there are no established structural properties as feedstocks for CLT [52]. Examples include the use of Sitka spruce in Scotland [53,54] and Ireland [55]; Italian marine pine in Sardinia [28,56]; European beech in Sustainability 2018, 10, 4118 3 of 20…”