Projects
On the TREE/e platform, projects are organised into three categories that reflect their stage of development.
Open projects are opportunities that are currently available for students or researchers to join. These projects provide a direct way for students to contribute to ongoing research and design challenges.
Ongoing projects represent work that is already in progress. These projects involve active collaborations between researchers, students, and often industry partners. These entries provide insight into current activities within TREE/e and illustrate how ideas develop over time and offer inspiration for future contributions.
Closed projects are those that have been successfully completed. They form an important knowledge base, showcasing results and reports. By exploring these projects, visitors can gain a clear understanding of the impact of TREE/e’s work and the progression of research themes over time.
If you are interested in timber research, but you can’t find a suitable thesis in our list: please feel free to propose your own idea to us.
Topic
Discipline
Type
Closed
A Parametric Framework for Modelling the Influence of Semi-Rigid Connections on Unbraced Timber Gridshell Behaviour
How do connection details influence the behaviour of timber gridshells? This research investigates how the rotational stiffness of steel-timber knife-plate connections affects the global structural performance of timber gridshells. Through extensive parametric analyses, the study demonstrates that semi-rigid connection behaviour can significantly influence stiffness, load distribution, and structural efficiency. The findings provide designers with valuable insights for optimizing timber gridshell structures, bridging the gap between connection-level mechanics and the performance of complex timber shell systems.
InnovationStructuralNumerical
Ongoing
Experimental and numerical investigation of damping behavior in CLT floors under real building conditions
This project investigates the damping behaviour of CLT floors in real buildings to improve predictions of human-induced vibration performance. Through extensive on-site measurements at different construction stages and comparison with numerical models, it aims to better understand damping effects, reduce unnecessary overdesign, and support more efficient, comfortable, and sustainable timber floor structures.
VibrationsStructuralExperimentalNumerical
Ongoing
Mass Optimization of Vibration Sensitive Hollow Timber Floors
This project investigates how mass can be optimally distributed within lightweight hollow timber floors to improve vibration comfort while minimizing material use. Using Lignatur floor systems and spring–mass–damper models, the research analyses human-induced vibrations and evaluates the effectiveness of integrated masses and dampers. The goal is to develop efficient, sustainable long-span timber floors that satisfy serviceability and occupant comfort requirements.
VibrationsStructuralNumerical
Open
Edge as timber dome
Dome structures are highly efficient in their use of structural materials. For larger spans, steel is often the material of choice, as demonstrated by The Edge. This raises the question of whether such a structure could instead be realised in timber. What are the key challenges that would need to be overcome? Would the design require modification? To what extent would timber shrinkage affect the structural behaviour? Could the structure be erected without the use of temporary supports?
Building SystemsInnovationArchitecturalExecutionStructuralDesignNumerical
Open
2-ways glulam floors
About 40% of the structural materials is within floors, making them interesting for optimalisation towards material use reduction. A CLT-floor can spans in 2-ways but asks for a lot of timber. Goal of the project is to design 2-way spanning floors created from interlocking glulam beams. Beams can be placed orthogonal, but optimization could lead to a more free orientated diagonal pattern of beams.
InnovationStructuralDesignNumerical
Open
Node stiffness in a timber dome
Dome structures are in principle based on axial forces. But relying on the grid pattern stability and structural behavior of asymmetric loading, the node stiffness will be of importance. What influence does node stiffness have in timber domes? Are all nodes and in/out of plane directions equally important?
InnovationArchitecturalStructuralDesignNumerical
Open
Geodesic / reciprocal timber dome
In dome structures often multiple beam elements are connected as a hinge on a central steel node. Reciprocal structures are different as always only two elements are hinge connected in one node – combined creating a bending stiff grid. But they do introduce additional shear forces and bending in the beams. The research is about comparing both systems in structural behavior, form-freedom, material use and buildability.
InnovationArchitecturalStructuralDesignNumerical
Ongoing
The impact of the horizontal shrinkage in CLT elements
Modern timber building design is characterized by an increasing trend towards larger buildings, which has been made possible by the adoption of advanced engineered wood products, such as CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber). While shrinkage in the longitudinal direction of the wood grain is relatively small, the sheer scale of a longer floor plate accumulates these minor variations into a large total potential movement (∆L). The research looks at the impact of this shrinkage in long buildings.
Shrinkage and swellingStructuralDesignNumerical
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