会议名称：2014世界木材日研讨会

会议时间：3月21-22日

报告摘要：

For centuries wooden pile constructions carried buildings in areas with weak soils in Europe but also in other parts of the world. Depending on the local soil conditions pile foundations differ in construction type, pile length, timber species applied and – very actual - the present  status of the piles. After the collapse of historic buildings in famous cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Dordrecht questions arose on the stability of wooden pile constructions as well as the processes causing their degradation. Nevertheless most of the pile foundations are still in service and besides carrying our cultural heritage these piles form a unique archive to study building history and past timber trade connections.

Nowadays, wooden pile foundations are barely used. Since their substitution by concrete in the 1950ies they only form a niche market. Concrete has the advantage to be less susceptible to degradation and - being an amorphous material – is easier to deal with if it comes to the calculations of loads and tensions by structural engineers. Nonetheless, in an era where sustainable use of resources should be an issue the advantages of wood as a renewable and CO2 neutral building material should certainly not be disregarded. Being hidden under the ground the strength and beauty of wooden foundation piles is not instantly visible. 

My presentation advocates the need to better explore the possibilities and limits of using wooden pile foundations. First, a summary is given on the history of the use of wooden foundation piles in Europe and especially in the Netherlands, then actual problems with wooden pile foundations are described and possible causes are discussed. Finally, opportunities are stressed to apply wooden pile foundations in future.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Rene Karel Wilhelmus Maria KLAASSEN, Wood researcher at SHR (Foundation for Timber Research), The Netherlands

Dr. René Klaassen (1960) is doing applied timber research at SHR (Dutch research center on wood technology in Wageningen). His research of the last 21 years was related to bacterial wood decay, wood properties and building opportunities of relatively unknown tropical timber species, wood identification and inspections of (historical) wooden constructions. He did his PhD (1999) at Leiden University under supervision of Prof Dr. Pieter Baas on the systematical and ecological wood anatomy of the Sapindaceae. 

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