Edinburgh Napier University

  This work set out to identify and overcome the barriers to specifying structural timber within the UK. In the first instance, a survey of practising structural engineers was conducted, and in combination with a review of the context via available literature, the objectives for the main body of the work were formulated. The solutions identified to address these barriers are in two forms: the first was to create code-compliant calculation tools for timber connections and the second approach presents a system for the automation of structural timber design as part of a Building Information Modelling (BIM) approach. The mathematical process of multi-dimensional data fitting is introduced in order to create automatic code compliance tools in BIM. This process is used to simplify the complex engineering calculations into a single equation that can be implemented into current BIM software engineering packages. BIM-based tools can contribute to addressing some of the challenges faced by structural engineering practitioners with respect to the design and detailing of timber structural systems, given the range of available timber products and enhanced levels of design complexities. From an industry perspective, it is envisaged that the work presented here can support structural engineers who want to incorporate timber in their projects but are finding the level of technical expertise required a significant barrier.