On the occasion of the Constructsteel Annual Conference 2024, engineers from the University of Luxembourg have received the 2024 Innovation of the Year Award for their outstanding research work on wood-steel connections.
Constructsteel is the steel construction market development programme of the World Steel Association. Bringing together 21 major global steel producers, their mission is to elevate steel as the ultimate choice in construction, foster sustainability, and communicate its unparalleled advantages to construction stakeholders worldwide.
The constructsteel Awards recognise exceptional achievements in the steel construction sector spanning a one-year period. The Innovation of the Year 2024 Award went to the University of Luxembourg, namely to Prof. Christoph Odenbreit and Dr. Alfredo Romero celebrate their outstanding projects “Steel to Timber Shear Connectors”.
The research is the result of the “Steel-Timber Composite Beams (PrefaSeti)” project which was recently finished and introduced a novel concept: a reusable steel-timber composite flooring system.
The work finds input on basis of steel-timber hybrid structures in combination with the circular economy, both reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of the construction sector. Furthermore, the ArcelorMittal Chair is developing the first design guidelines for steel-timber composite structures with the adjacent target of normative input.
‟ The award has to be seen in the global picture to enrich the steel composite construction method with one additional partner, namely the timber. To see, that Constructsteel – as part of Worldsteel Association – recognises our work makes us happy and gives additional motivation to identify and characterise environmentally friendly solutions.”
Head of the ArcelorMittal Chair of Steel Construction