Abstract:
Timber buildings are considered the construction of the future given the environmental advantages that this type of construction has over concrete or steel structures. This main advantage is followed by the outstanding characteristics of energy efficiency, thermal and acoustic comfort, lightness and even fire resistance, as well as the economic and temporal advantages of industrialised construction. The use of timber also requires little energy or water, and is 100% renewable. This reality and current promotion of timber structures contrasts drastically, however, with the scarce amount of research carried out in the field of structural robustness in relation to that of other materials (i.e. concrete or steel). This contrast is especially relevant nowadays, as extreme events (e.g. storms, floods, vehicle impacts, explosions or terrorist attacks) that usually cause sudden local-initial failures in structures become more frequent and unpredictable due to climate change and emerging conflicts. In this context, state-of-the-art structural design standards and guidelines indicate that structures should have sufficient structural continuity. This will prevent the propagation of failures because the structure will be able to activate alternative load paths in case of sudden failure of any element. In the case of timber structures, continuity and efficient activation of alternative load paths are considered critical because of the way in which the connections between elements are made and their limited rotation capacity. One of the last tests of the Building Resilient group consisted of designing robust timber-to-timber connections that were also tested in 1/3 scale building subassemblies. The tests have been carried out for two new types of connections, and for two strengthened connections to improve the structural robustness against sudden column failures.
Bio:
Dr Manuel Buitrago is a Civil Engineer (MEng), MSc in Structural Concrete Engineering and PhD in Construction Engineering. He received 1 pre-and 2 post-doctoral competitive grants and signed several contracts funded by public and private bodies. His current grant was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain. He has also participated in 14 RD&I projects (2 of them being PI) and 25 contracts with different companies (budget over €4.5 million), which proves his research and professional abilities. His research involves interdisciplinary collaboration and is now focused on the resilience of concrete, steel, and timber structures. He is author of 33 papers in high-impact journals. These publications have been associated with ambitious experimental campaigns which he led with significant budgets. Highlighted should be the last experimental campaign (video), which was disseminated in a very high-impact journal [Nature], being the first time that Nature publishes a paper on building engineering. His papers have been published in leading journals (e.g. Engineering Structures; ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering; Structures; ACI Structural Journal). He is co-author of 42 international conference papers and 4 book chapters. The transfer of knowledgeto the industry has also been important to him, going from basic research (low Technology Readiness Levels – TRLs) to high TRLs and the development of a patent (ES2636833) which is being marketed by Alsina Formwork Company SA (18 countries in 4 different continents). He has participated in teaching activities, where he translates research into real applications, mainly at UPV’s School of Civil Engineering but also at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, the Universidad de Alicante, and the Politecnico Di Milano.
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Time: 1:00 pm