Assessment, Reinforcement and Monitoring of Timber Structures – COST FP1101. Bo Kasal 1, a 1 Chair of the Management Committee COST FP 1101, Professor and Chair, Organic Construction Materials, School of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Carolo-Wilhelmina University, Braunschweig and Director of the Fraunhofer Wilhelm-Klauditz Institute, Braunschweig, Germany a kasalb@tu-braunschweig.de Keywords: timber, reinforcement, monitoring, COST action, research Abstract. This paper describes the goals, work plan, organization and results of the COST Action FP 1001 “Assessment, Reinforcement and Monitoring of Timber Structures.” 21 European countries with over 100 experts participate in the COST Action that started in 2012. The work of the COST FP 1101 is coordinated with the COST FP1004 "Enhance Mechanical properties of Timber, Engineered Wood Products and Timber Structures." This conference is one of the results of the COST action. Introduction The assessment, reinforcement and monitoring of timber structures has been a focus of research and practice for some time. The assessment was traditionally associated with historic structures but the application of various wood products in modern construction made the discipline relevant to modern systems as well. The reinforcement of timber has two distinct areas: repair of existing structural elements (in this context, we will address the load-bearing applications only) and reinforcement of members to be installed (new construction). While many overlapping techniques exist, there are limitations in application related to historic structures. Monitoring of timber in structures (health or load-related parameters) is not as common as the other two areas contained in the COST portfolio but the need has been identified and new methods applicable to wood-specific issues must be developed and implemented. The monitoring of environmental parameters such as air temperature and relative humidity is not new and is relatively common, but direct monitoring of wood structural members is not. There, opportunities exist to transfer methods from other areas (e.g. transportation) and/or develop completely new methods that will measure desired parameters (such as wood moisture contents, strains, or even damage) directly. This COST action has 21 European countries as members (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom) and one non-COST participant (New Zealand). The action is organized into three working groups (WG): 1. Assessment, 2. Reinforcement and 3. Monitoring. The action is using common instruments, defined in COST guidelines [1] that include workshops, meetings, short-term scientific missions (STSM) and conferences. It is expected that state-of-the-art publications (STAR) will result from the action work and new project and proposal ideas will be generated and pursued. The action coordinates its activities with the RILEM technical committee “Reinforcement of Timber Elements in Existing Structures.” Charge and organization The COST Action is an instrument used by European Community to facilitate collaboration between scientists from member countries. It supports number of activities such as international meetings, workshops, exchanges of scientists, training schools and conferences and strives to Advanced Materials Research Vol. 778 (2013) pp 1037-1040 © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.778.1037 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP, www.ttp.net. (ID: 153.96.112.250-02/09/13,16:51:06)