These two research projects are laying the groundwork for the use of wood in structural components in vehicle construction. Used correctly, wood-based materials can be equal or even superior to plastics and metals in their technical efficiency and ecological performance. WoodC.A.R. focused on making it possible to digitally predict wood and its natural material variability and to simulate its behaviour under fatigue and crash loading through virtual engineering. CARpenTiER explores the technical and economic feasibility. The digitalisation of production processes enables the transfer of craft knowledge in wood processing to reproducible industrial processes. If just 1% of the components manufactured from steel were replaced by wood-based components worldwide, 140,000 t of CO2 equivalents and 990,000 t of raw materials could be saved every year.
WoodC.A.R./CARpenTiER, from 2017
Innovation Centre W.E.I.Z.
Concept wooden ‘Citybus’
Wooden Bus Staircase
Project partners: ACstyria Mobilitätscluster, EJOT Austria, FH Joanneum, Holzcluster Steiermark, IB STEINER, KFU Graz, LEAN MC, MAGNA Steyr, MAN Bus & Truck AG, Graz University of Technology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Virtual Vehicle, Weitzer Parkett Funded by BMK, BMDW (FFG – COMET: Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies) and Land Steiermark (SFG)
