Material and structural characterisation of 3D wood-wound hollow veneer laminated structural components

The development of engineered wood products (EWPs) in the construction industry has gained increased interest over the last decade due to the global climate crisis and resource scarcity. However, lightweight, hollow timber elements remain mostly unexplored, despite the material efficiency achieved by hollow systems made from steel and fibre-reinforced composites, where structural performance is strongly influenced by geometric inertia. This research investigates the mechanical properties of ultra-thin beech veneer with a thickness of 0.5 mm, commonly used as edge-banding in furniture applications, for the production of hollow structural components through robotic winding and lamination into wound veneer laminates (WVL). The study presents a multi-scale material characterisation and structural evaluation workflow for robotically wound hollow veneer components, applied to a built modular ceiling system. Tensile and compression tests were carried out to determine strength and modulus of elasticity for veneer and veneer laminates with different layer configurations and fibre orientations, while component and full-scale tests assess the transfer of the measured stiffness properties to the fabricated components and the influence of connection flexibility on the assembled structural response. The experimentally derived material properties are implemented in simplified elastic finite element models, which are compared with and calibrated against the component and full-scale test results to establish a design-oriented modelling approach for the investigated system. The results highlight the importance of a feedback loop between small-scale material testing, numerical modelling, and full-scale structural testing in the development of complex timber-based material systems. Finally, the study provides material data for a non-standard veneer laminate and demonstrates its potential for hollow, thin-walled hardwood structural components in construction.