CRESTIMB aims to develop an innovative timber system suitable for multi-storey buildings with open spaces. The proposed system will include moment-resisting frames made of softwood or hardwood glue-laminated timber with innovative beam-to-column connections, and dowel cross laminated floor panels.  

With the objective to ensure an increased service life and the possibility of reuse, the long-term behaviour of the system components will be investigated with an advanced numerical model including the rheology of wood under variable indoor climates. The numerical analyses will be assisted by experiments on softwood and hardwood samples, as well as full size tests. The analysis results, in terms of creep deformations, moisture induced stresses and the related crack risk, will be applied in environmental assessment studies including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The proposed approach assumes that the long-term response of timber building systems under variable indoor climates can be optimized by using numerical modelling. 

Therefore, CRESTIMB will contribute to bridging the gap between advanced wood material models and innovative timber structure design for the development of a new generation of multi-storey residential and office buildings with open spaces. 

CRESTIMB is funded by The Research Council of Norway through the ForestValue2 program (Horizon Europe) 

Key points: 

• Innovative building system with moment-resisting connections with threaded rods 
• Increasing material circularity of structural systems, design for assembly, disassembly and re-assembly 
• Focus on long-term properties and their effects (creep)

Partners:  

• VTT, Finland 
• University of L’Aquila, Italy 
• Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 
• University of Galway, Ireland 
• University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 
• Łukasiewicz Institute of Technology, Poland 
• Łukasiewicz ITECH, Poland 
• Moelven Limtre AS, Norway 
• + other international industrial partners