Wood-based concrete (WooCon)

This research project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, is concerned with the development of new principles for load-bearing structural elements made of wood and lightweight wood concrete. In addition to improved structural load-bearing capacity, these novel structural elements can also offer economic and environmental benefits (weight reduction, thermal and sound insulation, fire resistance, heat storage, reusability in power and heat generation).

Target:

The project aims to develop lightweight concrete mixtures with differently pre-treated wood components and to test their suitability as load-bearing building materials. The results will be incorporated into a conceptual structural design of floor and wall elements and supplemented with tests on connectors for the individual components.

With the help of design methods that have hardly been used in timber construction so far, the researchers predict the load-bearing behavior of entire components up to failure and test it in full-scale load tests. From the results, they derive practical design approaches. Through further preliminary tests and case studies, the researchers assess the further expected benefits, for example, for thermal insulation and storage, for fire and noise protection, and in terms of economic competitiveness.

Significance:

Load-bearing components with lightweight wood concrete are lighter and offer integrated sound and fire protection. Thanks to the high wood content, the novel structural components are largely based on renewable resources, are heat insulating and storing, and can be reused in heat and power generation after their demolition. The design approaches to be developed, hitherto reserved for the traditional building materials of steel and reinforced concrete, could make construction with wood and wood products more efficient and thus help to make good use of wood and forests.