Passive crosslaminated timber buildings : Final report Cerbof-project no. 76

In this project, Stora Enso’s newly developed building system has been further developed to allow building to the Swedish passive house standard for the Swedish climate. The building system is based on a building framework of CLT (Cross laminated timber) boards. The concept has been tested on a small test building. The experience gained from this test building has also been used for planning a larger building (two storeys with the option of a third storey) with passive house standard with this building system. The main conclusions from the project are:  It is possible to build airtight buildings with this technique without using traditional vapour barriers. Initial measurements show that this can be done without reaching critical humidity levels in the walls and roof, at least where wood fibre insulation is used, as this has a greater capacity for storing and evening out the moisture than mineral wool. However, the test building has so far not been exposed to internal generation of moisture (added moisture from showers, food preparation etc.). This needs to be investigated and this will be done during the winter 2013-14.  A new fixing method for doors and windows has been tested without traditional fibre filling between them and the CLT panel. The door or window is pressed directly on to the CLT panel instead, with an expandable sealing strip between them. This has been proved to be successful.  The air tightness between the CLT panels is achieved with expandable sealing strips between the panels. The position of the sealing strips is important, both for the air tightness itself and to allow rational assembly.  Recurrent air tightness measurements show that the air tightness decreased somewhat during the first six months, but not to such an extent that the passive house criteria were not fulfilled. The reason for the decreased air tightness is not clear, but can be due to small movements in the CLT construction and also to the sealing strips being affected by changing outdoor temperatures.  Long term measurements (at least two years) have to be carried out before more reliable conclusions can be drawn regarding the long term effect of the construction on air tightness and humidity in the walls.  An economic analysis comparing using a concrete frame or the studied CLT frame for a three storey building shows that it is probably more expensive to build with CLT. For buildings higher than three floors, the CLT frame has economic advantages, mainly because of the shorter building time compared to using concrete for the frame. In this analysis, no considerations have been taken to differences in the influence on the environment or the global climate between the two construction methods.

Image processing technique to count the number of logs in a timber truck

This paper summarises the results of using image processing technique to get information about the load of timber trucks before their arrival using digital images or geo tagged images. Once the images are captured and sent to sawmill by drivers from forest, we can predict their arrival time using geo tagged coordinates, count the number of (timber) logs piled up in a truck, identify their type and calculate their diameter. With this information we can schedule and prioritise the inflow and unloading of trucks in the light of production schedules and raw material stocks available at the sawmill yard. It is important to keep all the actors in a supply chain integrated coordinated, so that optimal working routines can be reached in the sawmill yard.   

Simulation of Sawmill Yard Operations Using Software Agents

Bergkvist insjön AB is a sawmill yard which is capable of producing 350,000 cubic meter of timber every year this requires lot of internal resources. Sawmill operations can be classified as unloading, sorting, storage and production of timber. In the company we have trucks arriving at random they have to be unloaded and sent back at the earliest to avoid queuing up of trucks creating a problem for truck owners. The sawmill yard has to operate with two log stackers that does several tasks including transporting the logs from trucks to measurement station where the logs will be sorted into classes and dropped into pockets from pockets to the sorted timber yard where they are stored and finally from there to sawmill for final processing. The main issue that needs to be answered here is the lining up trucks that are waiting to be unload, creating a problem for both sawmill as well as the truck owners and given huge production volume, it is certain that handling of resources is top priority. A key challenge in handling of resources would be unloading of trucks and finding a way to optimize internal resources.To address this problem i have experimented on different ways of using internal resources, i have designed different cases, in case 1 we have both the log stackers working on sawmill and measurement station. The main objective of having this case is to make sawmill and measurement station to work all the time. Then in case 2, i have divided the work between both the log stackers, one log stacker will be working on sawmill and pocket_control and second log stacker will be working on measurement station and truck. Then in case 3 we have only one log stacker working on all the agents, this case was designed to reduce cost of production, as the experiment cannot be done in real-time due to operational cost, for this purpose simulation is used, preliminary investigation into simulation results suggested that case 2 is the best option has it reduced waiting time of trucks considerably when compared with other cases and it showed 50% increase in optimizing internal resources.

Färg och missfärgning hos sågad björk : - Variation samt effekter av avverkningstidpunkt, lagring av timmer och torkning av sågad vara

Variation i björkvirkets färg beror på art, läge i träd, ursprung och lagringstid. Vårtbjörk har en mörkare färg än glasbjörk, men livligare struktur och glans. Timmer hugget under tillväxtsäsongen bör sågas färskt eller lagras högst en månad. Vid brädgårdstorkning är god luftcirkulation och skydd för väta och direkt solljus väsentligt. Strövirkets färskhet är av stor betydelse för att undvika fuktfärgning av virket.Variation in birch colours depend on species, position in tree, origin and the storage period. White birch is darker than hairy birch but with a lively structure and shine. During vegetation period timber storage exceeding one month should be avoided. Air circulation, protection from rain and direct sunlight are essential for yard drying. Freshness of stickers used for stacking is important to avoid water marks on wood surface.

Vedegenskaper i härskande och behärskade granar vid Remingstorp : Wood properties in dominant and sub-dominant trees of Norway spruce at Remingstorp

Variation in wood properties for Picea abies trees and logs of different dimensions has been studied at two sites in southern Sweden of different site quality class. Trees have been classified as dominant or sub-dominant, according to their height. Log and board grades were classified and strength grade of boards, basic density and annual ring width measured. A similar study made on four northern sites was used as reference material.Sub-dominant trees were of superior quality in comparison to dominant trees, when classified by log and board grades or strength grading. Differences were accentuated for the second log where the sub-dominant trees had superior strength and low amount of boards with coarse branches. The results correspond well to those from the northern region, Jämtland. The classifica¬tion of boards as well as bending strength indicated superior properties on timber from northern sites even though the basic density was similar.

Långa toppar - metod för uttag av skogsbränsle i slutavverkningar : Slutrapport (STEM-projekt 21937-1)

SammanfattningHögskolan Dalarna har i samarbete med Skogsägarna Mellanskog, Naturbränsle i Mellan¬sverige AB och GDE-Net genomfört studier på en ny metod för uttag av skogsbränsle från slutavverkningar. Metoden går ut på att timmer tas ut som enda rundvirkessortiment. Resten av trädet, samt klenare träd som inte håller timmerdimension, tas ut som ett bränslesortiment. Metoden har jämförts med en konventionell slutavverkning med uttag av timmer, massaved och GROT-flis.Enligt genomförda försök skulle en avverkning enligt den nya metoden (långa toppar) ge ett högre drivningsnetto och drygt dubbelt så mycket bränsleflis som en konventionell avverk¬ning. En anledning till det högre drivningsnettot är att kostnaden för flisning blir lägre än vid flisning av GROT och att flisen betalas bättre än GROT-flis. Resultaten är beroende av de faktiska beståndsförutsättningarna och gällande prisrelationer mellan massaved och bränsle¬flis.Faktorer som har en positiv inverkan på drivningsnettot vid uttag av ”långa toppar” är t.ex. stora uttagsvolymer och korta terrängtransportavstånd samt bestånd med en hög andel virke av låg kvalitet eller udda sortiment som betalas dåligt på rundvirkesmarknaden.SummaryIn Sweden forest energy from final felling is traditionally harvested as logging residues after harvesting of timber (saw logs) and pulpwood, but depending on the market situation other methods with higher yield of forest energy might be of interest. Dalarna University has study a new method called “Undelimbed long tops” where only saw timber was taken out as an industrial assortment. The rest of the trees and smaller trees that don’t hold timber dimensions was left intact on the clear-felled area and been chipped later on. The study was done in different stands with some different conditions. The results have been compared with the traditional method for final felling. The surplus (forest owners net income) was higher in almost all stands when the method with “undelimbed long tops” was used, compared to the traditional method for taking out forest energy, and the volume of chips was more than doubled. A reason for the higher income from long tops is that the costs for chipping is lower and the prize of chips is higher compared to chips from logging residues. Other reason is that forest owners will not be paid for wasted pulpwood, but will be fully paid for the chips from such pulpwood. Factors that will have a positive influence on the ULT-method are for example large logging volumes and short distance between the logging area and the landing, different kinds of price reductions on pulpwood and large volumes of rotten wood or low paid industrial assortments.

Trätorn : Kan det vara något för svensk vindkraft i skogsmiljö?

Inom ramen för projektet Energi- och miljökompetenscentrum vid Högskolan Dalarna haren kortare förstudie kring tekniken som används av Timber Tower GmbH för högavindkrafttorn i trä gjorts. Huvudsyftet med studien har varit att titta närmare på teknikenoch dess potential för svensk landbaserad vindkraft samt utreda vad detta kan innebära förregionen.Trenden för landbaserad vindkraft i skogsmiljö går mot allt högre torn. Skogsmiljön gör attden marknära turbulensen och vindgradienten blir större än över t.ex. hav vilket gör detmer föredelaktigt att använda högre torn.Tekniken som Timber Tower GmbH använder är att bygga tornet på plats med en koniskhålstomme av plana paneler av korslimmat limträ (som annars främst används vidbyggnation av höga hus med massivträstomme). Tekniken är skyddad av ett flertalpatentansökningar varav minst en är beviljad.Vid en jämförelse mellan trätorn och svetsade ståltorn (som är den dominerandetorntekniken idag) kan det konstateras att trätornstekniken är ekonomiskt intressant.Framförallt blir trätornen mer intressanta i jämförelse med ståltornen vi ökande höjder (>100 m) pga. dess transportfördelar. Vidare bör det nämnas att de torntekniker somanvänds idag vid höjder runt 140 m och högre främst är fackverkstorn i stål ochhybridtorn med en hög bas av förspänd betong och övre delen i stål.Då ett typgodkännande av ett vindkraftverk gäller torn och turbin är det i praktiken alltidturbintillverkaren som prissätter och levererar ett komplett vindkraftverk. Medutgångspunkt i regeringens planeringsram för svensk vindkraftutbyggnad (20 TWh/årlandbaserad vindkraft 2020) kan dock marknadsvärdet för torn uppskattas till 2-3 miljarderkr/år fram till 2020. För trätorn motsvarar detta en årlig potentiell volym på ca 190 000 m3.Slutsatsen i denna korta studie är att det är tekniskt möjligt att designa ett trätorn i rimligadimensioner för en 2-3 MW turbin med navhöjd ca 140 m och att detta sannolikt även ärekonomiskt intressant. Då ett trätorn blir något lättare än motsvarande ståltorn går det åtmindre energi för att göra ett trätorn. Hur mycket mindre är dock osäkert pga. den storaspridningen i siffror för energiåtgång för stålproduktion och i praktiken blir skillnadenäven leverantörsberoende. Eftersom andelen förnyelsebar energi är betydligt större vidtillverkningen av materialet för trätornen kommer trätornet att ge en betydande sänkningpå utsläppt CO2e/kWhel jämfört med motsvarande verk med ståltorn. Ett annat argumentför trätorn är förenklade transporter jämfört med t.ex. svetsade ståltorn eller hybridtornmed prefabricerade betongelement.Om tekniken etableras kan det i förlängningen leda till en regional påverkan i form av ökatlokalt innehåll i vindkraftprojekten t.ex. genom ökade råvaruleveranser (eg. sågat ochtorkat virke), lokal produktion av korslimmat limträ eller exempelvis bildande avspecialiserade montagefirmor. Det största hindret för tekniken just nu är dessmarknadsintroduktion och acceptans samt typgodkännande tillsammans med en för svenskmarknad intressant turbinleverantör. För att få acceptans för tekniken krävs byggande ochutvärdering av minst ett verk med trätorn. En intressant storlek för marknaden är en 2-3MW turbin med navhöjd ca 140 m. Ett sådant verk skulle i så fall få det högstavindkrafttornet i Sverige och sannolikt det högsta vindkrafttornet i trä i världen. Byggandetav ett första verk med trätorn skulle sannolikt även kräva ett behov av stödfinansiering föratt täcka en projektörs ökade risk. Då flera vindkraftetableringar i regionen uppvisar godaproduktionsresultat (med Tavelberget som gott exempel) visar det att regionen ärintressant för introduktion och utvärdering av ny teknologi.

Simulation and optimisation techniques for sawmill yard operation : A literature review

Increasing costs and competitive business strategies are pushing sawmill enterprises to make an effort for optimization of their process management. Organizational decisions mainly concentrate on performance and reduction of operational costs in order to maintain profit margins. Although many efforts have been made, effective utilization of resources, optimal planning and maximum productivity in sawmill are still challenging to sawmill industries. Many researchers proposed the simulation models in combination with optimization techniques to address problems of integrated logistics optimization. The combination of simulation and optimization technique identifies the optimal strategy by simulating all complex behaviours of the system under consideration including objectives and constraints. During the past decade, an enormous number of studies were conducted to simulate operational inefficiencies in order to find optimal solutions. This paper gives a review on recent developments and challenges associated with simulation and optimization techniques. It was believed that the review would provide a perfect ground to the authors in pursuing further work in optimizing sawmill yard operations.

Multi-agent simulation of sawmill yard operations

This paper reports the findings of using multi-agent based simulation model to evaluate the sawmill yard operations within a large privately owned sawmill in Sweden, Bergkvist Insjön AB in the current case. Conventional working routines within sawmill yard threaten the overall efficiency and thereby limit the profit margin of sawmill. Deploying dynamic work routines within the sawmill yard is not readily feasible in real time, so discrete event simulation model has been investigated to be able to report optimal work order depending on the situations. Preliminary investigations indicate that the results achieved by simulation model are promising. It is expected that the results achieved in the current case will support Bergkvist-Insjön AB in making optimal decisions by deploying efficient work order in sawmill yard.

Simulation model using meta heuristic algorithms for achieving optimal arrangement of storage bins in a sawmill yard

Bin planning (arrangements) is a key factor in the timber industry. Improper planning of the storage bins may lead to inefficient transportation of resources, which threaten the overall efficiency and thereby limit the profit margins of sawmills. To address this challenge, a simulation model has been developed. However, as numerous alternatives are available for arranging bins, simulating all possibilities will take an enormous amount of time and it is computationally infeasible. A discrete-event simulation model incorporating meta-heuristic algorithms has therefore been investigated in this study. Preliminary investigations indicate that the results achieved by GA based simulation model are promising and better than the other meta-heuristic algorithm. Further, a sensitivity analysis has been done on the GA based optimal arrangement which contributes to gaining insights and knowledge about the real system that ultimately leads to improved and enhanced efficiency in sawmill yards. It is expected that the results achieved in the work will support timber industries in making optimal decisions with respect to arrangement of storage bins in a sawmill yard.