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The concept of a ready-to-assemble kit fabricated in a factory and delivered to the customer is well known and commonly used by the furniture industry. In wood construction, the lack of a simple and reliable method of assembling the frame members creates a barrier to wide acceptance of prefabricated kit structures. This thesis focuses on a novel technology of assembling structural components of a wood frame using a metal nail plate connector (NPC). This technology was referred to as a ready-to-assemble (RTA) wood framing system. The RTA system simplifies the framing process and allows for rapid erection of a wood structural frame by a small nonprofessional crew. A 16 x 24 foot RTA building was constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of the RTA system concept. An effective assembly sequence was proposed and successfully implemented. The design procedure for the RTA buildings was presented. The lateral load path for the RTA building includes diaphragms and shear walls. The contribution of the RTA frame can be ignored from the lateral load analysis. This conclusion was validated for the diaphragms with aspect ratios up to 4:1. The finite element method was used to model the RTA structures. The models incorporated semi-rigid behavior of the NPC. An analytical model was developed to predict the nonlinear moment-rotation relationship of the NPC. The proposed model showed a good agreement (R2=0.98) with the experimental data. Tests were conducted to measure the load-drift response of the RTA shear walls. / Master of Science

Hurricanes and earthquakes have caused extensive property damage to wood-frame residential construction in the past two decades in the United States. In order to improve residential building performance and mitigate losses from hurricane and earthquake hazards, there is an urgent need for better understanding of building performance and improvements in design and evaluation tools. In this study, a fragility analysis methodology is developed for assessing the response of light-frame wood construction exposed to extreme hurricane winds and earthquakes. The fragility is a conditional limit state probability, presented as a function of the 3-second gust wind speed (hurricanes) or spectral acceleration at the fundamental period of the building (earthquakes), leading to a relation between damage state probability and the hazard stipulated in ASCE Standard 7. A fully coupled probabilistic framework is proposed to assess reliability of the residential construction through convolution of the structural fragility model with hazard models. Finally, a comparative risk assessment addresses the similarities and differences in competing hurricane and earthquake hazards. The tools above can be used to evaluate new and existing building products, model the uncertainties that are inherent to the prediction of building performance, and manage the risk that is consequent to these uncertainties economically

How can we build small scale dynamic shapes with what we have? This project will present a method to build your own free form wooden structure without relying on high-tech computer programs or custom made parts from expensive factories.

As the topic for my master's thesis, I wanted to challenge myself with a project to which I have a personal connection and use my experience for designing. At 13 years old, I went ot a competitive sport boarding school for 5 years. This time left me with a very distinctive and also some negative impressions. The complex was made out of a couple, by a narrow hallway connected, buildings. On one hand a very practical concept, that shortend commuting intensively around the complex, but on the other hand the surrounding fabric had no influence and connection to it and the complex could be placed anywhere. That is why I would like to take a closer look at what this building can actually be and stand for while, being a place for education and also use it's design and intentions for part of the education. Thesis Questions: What is the place of education? How can the importance of the school be translated into architecture? What can stuidents learn from the building itself? How is the relationship between the school and the community defined? / Master of Architecture

Millions of people around the developing world struggle to obtain safe, decent and affordable housing. The United States of America has substantially improved the residential construction sector by engineering new materials and developing efficient systems in wood construction. The goal of this research was to assess the potential of introducing system built wood construction system manufactured in the United States in urban social housing markets of developing countries. Peru, Ecuador and Colombia were three countries chosen for this study. Stakeholders in social housing in these three countries were interviewed to assess key aspects of traditional construction, current social housing deficits, perception of wood use in construction, and policies associated with social housing in selected markets. Findings indicate developing custom housing products for urban social housing programs can provide access to this untapped markets. Awareness about wood construction was very limited in the studied region. System built wood construction manufacturers in the U.S. were assessed to identify barriers and incentives for internationalization. Manufacturers in the U.S. also identify the need to expand their existing customer base. Findings of the survey conducted among the manufacturers identified various barriers to export. This research contributes to opening of new markets for exports of prefabricated wooden buildings in new geographical regions. / Master of Science / Millions of people around the developing world struggle to obtain safe, decent and affordable housing. The United States of America has substantially improved the residential construction sector by engineering new materials and developing efficient systems in wood construction. The goal of this research was to assess the potential of using wood houses manufactured in a factory in the U.S. for urban social housing markets of developing countries. Peru, Ecuador and Colombia were three countries chosen for this study. Stakeholders in social housing were interviewed to assess key aspects of traditional construction, current social housing deficits, perception of wood use in construction, and policies associated with social housing in selected markets. Findings indicate developing custom housing products for urban social housing programs can potentially provide access to untapped markets. System built wood construction manufacturers in the U.S. were assessed to identify barriers and incentives for internationalization. Existing policies and trade relations between the U.S. and countries in South America supports this development. Awareness about wood construction was very limited in the region. Lack of existing wood construction in markets indicates a possibility of resistance to acceptance but also assures no local competition. Manufacturers in the U.S. also identify the need to expand their existing customer base. Findings of the survey conducted among the manufacturers identified various barriers to export. This research contributes to opening of new markets for exports of prefabricated wooden buildings in new geographical regions.

This dissertation is divided into theoretic and practical sections. The theoretic part, is based on study literature, representing the problematic microscopic wood construction, with the necessary graphics documentation and definition. Also including the technology of preparation and production samples of species for microscopical observation. The practical part includes a set of specimens for microscopical wood anatomy observation accordant to the fabrication and education needs in the subject Laboratory practice-Wood. For every single preparation is provide a cumulative list and description.

EHTB project is a university-industry collaboration program at Linnaeus University.The program aims at offering advanced knowledge and technology about woodconstruction that meet the needs of the labor market. All the courses are permitted toengineering students and employees who engage in the industry with sufficient workingexperience, however, there is a high rate of dropout in the project.People, most of whom were full-time working and having a family, applied to thecourses in the project since it started. Some of them gave up their offer mostly becausethey chose another alternative. For those who registered, the withdrawn during studyoccurred again mainly due to time issue caused by their heavy work burden or thedistracted family situation.The students who participated in the EHTB project usually had a high commitment tothe education. Distance students usually have fewer communication with the institutioncompared to other campus-based learners. The author suggests that the university couldestablish an information and consulting system for a more frequent information delivery.It would be better if the associating companies encourage their staff to take the studyand create the learning atmosphere for the students. Moreover, the students within theproject are the resources to various company, there is no harm for both the universityand the companies to communicate more with the students for more future cooperationand development.At the end, the author points out that the distance education mode of EHTB project didnot fully utilize the potential of the flexibility. Some face-to-face meetings deepened thetime limitation and the inconvenience for transportation. More distance operationtechnology should be implemented to increase the flexibility for students.

Negativ miljöpåverkan i form av föroreningar och koldioxidutsläpp är enorm idag. Men också de stora kostnader som tillkommer när man ska försöka bygga miljösmart. Framtiden kräver av oss att börja utnyttja förnyelsebara råvaror för en hållbar utveckling. Trä anses vara ett miljövänligt material och bör användas som stommaterial i höga byggnader i större utsträckning än det görs idag.  De vanligaste stomsystem som förekommer i träbyggnader är pelar-balksystem, skivsystem av massivträ och regelsystem. Dessa tre stomsystem kan sedan kombineras i tre olika byggmetoder: platsbygge, prefabricerade planelement eller prefabricerade volymer. Det finns flera aspekter som påverkar valet av stomsystem och byggmetod, t.ex. undergrunden, planlösningen, våningsantal, stomstabilisering och funktionskrav som brand, fukt och akustik.   Målet med examensarbetet är att jämföra två olika trästomsystem och byggmetoder. Jämförelser kommer att genomföras ur ett tekniskt perspektiv för att kunna fastställa vilket system/metod som är att föredra samt vilka för- och nackdelar dessa har. Rapporten delas in i tre delar. Den första delen utgör en jämförelse mellan trä och betong som stommaterial där aspekterna miljö, fukt, brand och akustik behandlas. Nästa del behandlar trähustekniken. Avsnittet ger en generell beskrivning om trä som stommaterial, där följande punkter avhandlas: Stomsystem Stomstabiliserande system för träbyggnader Förankringssystem Byggmetoder Funktionskrav för brand, fukt och akustik. Den sista delen i rapporten utgör grunden till examensarbetet. Två referensobjekt studeras, Ulls Hus respektive Brf Hjortronstället. Ulls Hus är byggd med prefabricerade planelement och har ett kombinerat stomsystem, pelare - balk och skivsystem. Brf Hjortronstället är byggd med Lindbäcks volymbyggnadssystem och har en träregelstomme. / The negative impact in forms of pollution and carbon dioxide emission is enormous today. So are the large costs which are added when you try to build environmentally smart. The future demands of us to begin to utilize renewable raw materials for a sustainable development. Wood is considered to be an environmentally good material which ought to be used to a larger degree than being done today. The most common framework systems that occur in wooden buildings are column-beam system, panel system of solid wood and timber frame system. These three frame systems can then be combined in three different construction methods: site construction, prefabricated surface units or prefabricated volumes. There are several aspects that influence the choice of framing system and construction method, such as: substructure, floor layout, floor number, structural stability and functional requirements such as fire, humidity and acoustics. The aim of our dissertation is to compare two wood frame systems: column-beam system and timber frame system. And also building methods with industrial wood building. Comparisons are made from a technical perspective in order to ascertain what frame system is to be preferred and which advantages and disadvantages these systems have. Our report is made up of three parts. The first part is a comparison between wood and concrete as framework material where we treat the areas of environment, moisture, fire and acoustics. The next part treats the technique of wood house. This part gives a general description of wood as framework material where the following aspects are treated: Frame systems Frame stabilizing systems for wood buildings Anchoring systems Construction methods Functional demands for fire, moisture and acoustics   The last part of the report is the basics for the dissertation. Two reference objects are studied, ”Ulls Hus” and ”Brf (housing cooperative) Hjortronstället”. Ulls Hus is built with prefabricated surface units with combined framework system, column-beam and board system. Brf Hjortronstället is built with the volume building system from Lindbäcks with a timber frame system.

Det blev år 1994 tillåtet i Sverige att bygga hus med stomme av trä högre än två våningar. Det finns många fördelar med att bygga med trästomme, inte minst ur miljösynpunkt, men det byggs trots detta väldigt få flervåningshus högre än två våningar med trästomme jämfört med andra stomkonstruktioner. Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på hur beställare resonerar kring att bygga eller inte bygga flervåningshus med trästomme högre än två våningar och hur deras inställning är gentemot denna stomkonstruktion. För att ta reda på detta så har en kvalitativ undersökning genomförts där fem personer i beställarposition har intervjuats. Resultaten visade att det finns en viss kunskapsbrist om trästommar. Information finns men få har tagit del av den och tryggheten i att bygga i betong överväger i många fall de fördelar som träkonstruktioner faktiskt har. Kostnader är av självklara skäl den viktigaste aspekten för många företag. Om det finns kostnadsfördelar med trästomme råder det delade meningar om, men om så är fallet så behöver det bli tydligare för att beställare ska våga sig på det som alternativ. Kommunerna är i många fall de som får även mindre erfarna beställare att faktiskt bygga med trästomme då de på vissa platser har som krav att det ska vara trästomme. Att föreslå trästomme kan också vara ett sätt att stå ut från mängden och på så sätt vinna en markanvisning hos kommunen. Kommunernas inflytande på företagens val av stomme är något som författarna tycker att det bör forskas mer om. Överlag verkade det som att det fanns en ganska positiv bild av trästommar ur beställarens perspektiv, främst angående miljöaspekterna. Dock är det ännu inte tillräckligt för att de mindre träerfarna beställarna frivilligt ska våga prova på det då deras kunskap om det brister och det faktum att det inte visat sig ha kostnadsfördelar i alla lägen. / In 1994, it became legal in Sweden to build residential houses with wooden frames higher than two storeys. There are many advantages to building houses with wooden frames, not least from an environmental point of view, but very few multi-storey houses with wooden frames are built in comparison to frames of other materials. The purpose of this study is to examine how clients reason when deciding on whether to build or not to build multi-storey houses with wooden frames and how their attitudes are towards this form of construction. To do this, a qualitative study has been conducted in which five people in a customer position have been interviewed. The results show that there is a certain lack of knowledge about wooden frames. Information is available, but few have taken part of it and the certainty of building in concrete in many cases exceeds the advantages that wooden frames actually have. Costs are for obvious reasons the most important aspect for many. There are different opinions regarding cost advantages in wooden frames, but if there are any, they need to be made clearer for clients if they are to explore wooden frames as an alternative. In many cases, it is the municipalities who get the less experienced clients to actually buy and build wooden framed houses, as in some places they require a wooden frame. Proposing a wooden framed building can also be a way of standing out from the crowd and thus gaining a landmark at the municipality. The influence of municipalities on companies’ choice of frame is something that the authors think should be researched further. Overall, it appears that there is a fairly positive view of wooden frames from the clients’ perspective, mainly regarding environmental aspects. However, it is not yet enough for the clients who are less experienced with wooden frames to willingly try it, as their knowledge of it is lacking and the fact that it has not proven to have cost advantages in all situations.