Facilitation of Acoustics Testing for Sustainable Mass Timber Technologies, Leading to Publication of Open Source Acoustics Data for Standard Acoustics Scenarios
Project contact is Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg at the University of Oregon (United States)
Summary
Our aim is to support the acceptance and increase market share of sustainable mass timber construction technologies such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Mass Plywood Panel (MPP), Glue Laminated Timber (GLT), and Nail Laminated Timber (NLT), by lowering or eliminating barriers due to lack of acoustics data for mass timber construction assemblies. Currently, sustainable mass timber projects carry the cost of required acoustics testing, impairing their economic feasibility. With our new acoustics testing facility, testing supported by this grant will produce common acoustics data on the assemblies most in market demand. These data will be hosted in an online open-access database, supporting rapid growth in this industry. Increasingly specialized testing scenarios will be more easily accommodated, as this facility is located closer to USFS source materials and production facilities than currently operating facilities and is designed specifically for the specialized requirements of testing mass timber assemblies. Since sustainable mass timber technologies allow increased utilization of lower quality timber, and timber with insect damage, increasing the market share of mass timber will increase utilization of USFS timber, specifically that which might otherwise remain on-site unused. With removal of this type of timber, fire load will be lessened as well. Initial testing supported by this grant will include mass timber assemblies constructed with lower quality and smaller dimension timber.