Hybrid ribbed ceilings

Construction remains a key sector even in modern, post-industrial consumer and knowledge societies. Construction is by far the largest consumer of raw materials and energy and contributes significantly to environmental and climate damage. It is therefore important for every society to constantly develop the construction sector. Creativity and new ideas must be strengthened and "tried out", the market dominance of individual construction methods and materials must be questioned.

With this in mind, the present research project is intended to investigate what significance the traditional, renewable raw material wood could have in the future in new construction and in the maintenance and modernization of existing buildings.

In addition to taking into account the modern manufacturing and application possibilities of wood raw materials, composite techniques and mixed construction solutions are to be investigated, in particular using the materials of the century, cement and steel.

Building on the previous research projects and product developments of the ITI, the research project aims to develop ribbed floor systems in ecological composite timber construction and to optimize their practical use.

Main objectives

1. development and optimization of ribbed ceiling panels. Ecological and economical considerations for production, assembly and disassembly play a role.

2. investigation and modeling of the load-bearing behavior of ribbed floor slabs under short- and long-term loading. The principle fire behavior of such elements is to be investigated in more detail by means of a fire test.

3. the ceiling shear stiffness plays a decisive role for horizontal bracing against wind, & earthquake loads. The connection of individual ribbed ceiling panels to each other is to be tested with different connection systems.

The collaboration between the scientists, teachers and students can be summarized as follows:

Holding workshops to communicate the research approaches.

Workshops to discuss the assembly and test procedures

Assembly in small groups in the laboratory under the guidance of the scientists

Experimental assembly and measurement setup in small groups in the laboratory under the guidance of the scientists

Conducting experiments in small groups in the laboratory under the guidance of the scientists

Modeling with simple programs in the school under the guidance of the scientists