Business from technology

Tomi Toratti

Current position at VTT

Tomi Toratti is Senior Research Scientist and team leader of the Material modelling and service life team.

Research background and current research topics

The main research interests are in the following fields:

• Timber Engineering
  
• Mechanical properties of Timber
  
• Creep and load duration effects on Timber
  
• Mechanical properties Laminated Veneer Lumber
  
• Moisture flow in wood
  
• Seismic design of timber houses,
  
• Floor vibrations
  
• Reliability of wood structures
  
• Quality aspects in the building process
  
• Failures in structures
  
• CEN standards on wood products and timber structures
  
• Building physics
  

Current major research projects at VTT

Leading and participation in a number of European and national research projects.

Education

1985 Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology
1989 Licentiate in Technology degree, Helsinki University of Technology
1992 Doctor in Technology degree, Helsinki University of Technology.

Work history

Research Assistant 1989-1991, Helsinki University of Technology
Senior Research Engineer 1991 – 1997, Helsinki University of Technology
Visiting scientist during period 1.08.92-31.01.94 in Laboratorie de Rheologie du Bois de Bordeaux, France. Collaboration with Prof. Pierre Morlier
Visiting scientist during period 1.02.96-31.07.97 in Lund University, Laboratory of Structural Engineering, Sweden. Collaboration with Prof. Sven Thelandersson
Senior Research Scientist, VTT, Finland, 1997 till present.

Positions of trust and professional assignments

Vice-Chairman of the Finnish Timber Product Quality Control Association 1992 – 1994
Chairman of the Finnish Timber Product Quality Control Association 1995 – 1999
Scientific secretary of the World Timber Engineering Conference, Lahti Finland 14-17 June 2004
CEN technical secretary of TC124 Timber Structures, 2004 – ongoing
Coordinator of the council for the World Timber Engineering Conference series 2008 -
Editorial board member of the European journal of wood and wood products 2009 –

European networking acitivities
Participation in the six different management committees of European Cost Actions:

• Cost E508 Wood Mechanics 1992-1996, member of the management committee
  
• Cost E8 Mechanical Performance of Wood and Wood Products 1996-2001, member and vice-chairman of the management committee
  
• Cost E5 Timber Frame Building Systems 1996-2002, member of the management committee
  
• Cost E24 Probabilistic design of timber structures 2001-2005, member of the management committee
  
• Cost E29 Innovative timber based elements 2003-2007, member and vice chairman of the management committee
  
• Cost E55 Modelling timber structures 2006-1010, member and working group leader of the management committee.
  

Selected publications

A 3D moisture-stress FEM analysis for time dependent problems in timber structures
Fortino, Stefania; Mirianon, F.; Toratti, Tomi, Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials. Vol. 13 (2009), 333-356.

Quality of timber construction - guidance for buildings and load bearing structures
Toratti, Tomi Rouhiainen, Veikko (ed.), Scientific activities in Safety & Security 2009. VTT. Espoo (2009), 50-51.

Modelling of durability of wooden structures
Toratti, Tomi; Viitanen, Hannu; Peuhkuri, Ruut; Makkonen, Lasse; Ojanen, Tuomo; Jämsä, Salla, 4th International Building Physics conference IBPC 2009, Istanbul, Turkey, 15-18 June 2009. Istanbul Technical University. Istanbul, Turkey (2009), 127-134

Design of safe timber structures - How can we learn from failures in concrete, steel and timber ?
Fruhwald, Eva; Serrano, Erik; Toratti, Tomi; Emilsson, Aarne; Thelandersson, Sven, 2007. Lund institute of Technology, Division of Structural Engineering. 44 + 177 Report TVBK-3053

Classification of Human Induced Floor Vibrations
Toratti, Tomi; Talja, Asko, Building Acoustics. Vol. 13 (2006) No: 3, 211-221

For complete list of publications, see Tomi Toratti’s publications in VTT Publications Register.