ABSTRACT
Since a large portion of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is contributed by construction activities, the reduction of embodied carbon and the impact of respective material choices has received increasing attention. Its potentially low Embodied Carbon (EC) and technological innovations in the past couple of decades have led to a reconsideration of timber as construction material and have turned it into as serious contender compared to concrete and steel. A lack of adequate structural capacity had previously marginalized its use and had pushed it out of urban construction. Despite its limitations in its natural form, Mass Engineered Timber (MET) has helped to overcome these challenges with room for further improvements and innovations. We have identified the reinforcement of timber with high-performance fibers roving as a promising concept that can extend the application of timber in construction. It potentially also opens avenues for applications in tropical contexts. This paper focuses on suitable reinforcement mechanisms to create a structurally capable composite between timber and synthetic fibers. In this research, various reinforcements mechanisms were designed, tested, and analyzed to investigate their structural properties in relation to their respective global warming potential. The experimentation results illustrate that fiber-reinforced timber composite can display approximately up to 45% higher load bearing capacity than unreinforced samples. The composites require less stress to create an identical amount of strain than unreinforced samples. The resulting composites are structurally capable, and despite small amounts of energy-intensive fibers the overall consumption of raw material resources and CO2 emissions are reduced.
