The Timber Skeleton: Redesigning the roof structure of Notre Dame de Paris

On April 15th, 2019 a devastating fire burned down Notre Dame de Paris and left the cathedral without its central spire and ancient gable roof, better known as The Forest. The required reconstruction initiated a global debate between architects, engineers, and other stakeholders. The discussion was put to an end by the French authorities, who...

Numerical modelling of dowelled connections in Laminated Veneer Lumber

The complex mechanical behaviour of timber makes it hard to predict the failure modes in connections made of timber in Finite Element Models (FEM). The combination of various failure modes (brittle and ductile) , anisotropic behaviour, contact of steel elements and large deformations that can occur in a timber joint challenges the use of FEM. To...

The structural feasibility of timber wind turbines in the Netherlands

Inspired by the world's first timber tower for a multi-megawatt turbine, an investigation has been carried whether or not this design would be suited for Dutch wind conditions as well. Demands from design codes have been summarized and the frequency behaviour of these timber towers has been studied. Apart from the original softwood Cross...

Derivation of the shear strength of continuous beams

The elastic—full plastic loading curve is for all materials sufficient to explain the strength of beams and beam columns loaded by bending and compression. This theory is extended for the influence of shear stress, and it is shown to be the only way to explain the combined bending-shear strength from test results. Also, the in the past derived...