Many commercial buildings, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants are constructed using prefabricated wooden elements, with their wooden beams connected at the factory with nail plates. However, the collapse of several roofs of this type revealed weaknesses due to the nail plates migrating outward, prompting a recommendation for regular inspection of such constructions. Currently, this is very labor-intensive, and the consequences of a nail plate moving out by just a few millimeters on the load-bearing capacity are unknown. Additionally, there are no well-founded approaches to rectifying discovered defects.

Therefore, within the framework of this project, a methodology is to be developed for the rapid monitoring and structurally secure refurbishment of nail plate connections to significantly reduce the risk of damage to buildings with nail plate trusses. For this purpose, the current condition of the nail plate connections will be accurately assessed and evaluated using an optical measurement method to be developed, in order to enable a precise and partially standardized refurbishment planning for the structure based on this data and with the help of a calculation and refurbishment methodology to be developed. The research work is carried out within the framework of a cooperation project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) as part of the "Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM)" together with BE Ingenieure GmbH in Karlsruhe (www.be-ingenieure.com).