The Use of Cross Laminated Timber in Structures

Abstract

Wood has been one of the most preferred building materials because of its durability, accessibility and workability since the first periods that people started to build a shelter. However, wooden structures were substantially left in the early 20th century, and concrete and steel construction systems were begun to be used. Today, the effects of environmental concepts such as sustainability, renewable energy sources, global warming and greenhouse gases on construction production have led to a reconsidering of building materials. Cross-laminated wood (CLT) panels, which have emerged for the last 20 years, enabled the use of the wooden base in multi-storey wood structures. The use of crosslaminated wood as an element of the load-bearing system removes the blind side of wood originating from its orthotropic structure. Poor quality trees are also brought to the sector thanks to these panels created. Sustainable environment could be created by performing tree farming with the purpose of using cross-laminated wood instead of existing tree sources in the construction sector, thus this will be more beneficial economically by minimising the importation of this material. This study provided information about the production stages, areas of usage and environmental features of cross-laminated wood as construction material, and design implementation of this new product as the element of the load-bearing system was carried out. Also, in this study, a multi-layered CLT beam was analysed theoretically in RFEM program as an application of CLT structural member.