In recent years, timber has been considered as an alternative source of building material because of its sustainability and design efficiency. However, the cost competitiveness of timber buildings is still under study due to the lack of available cost information. This paper presents a comprehensive cost comparative analysis of a mass timber building mainly developed with cross-laminated timber (CLT). The actual construction cost of the project is compared with the modeled cost of the same building designed as a concrete option. The result shows that the construction cost of timber building is 6.43% higher than the modeled concrete building. The study further investigated the change orders associated with the project and found that the total cost of change orders contributed 5.62% to the final construction cost of mass timber building. The study is helpful to provide insight into the construction cost of typical mass timber buildings. It also can be used as a guide for the project owners to make decisions regarding their initial investments on a mass timber project.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is well known as an interesting technical and economical product for modern wood structures. The use of CLT for modern construction industry has become increasingly popular in particular for residential timber buildings. Analyzing the CLT behavior in high thermal environment has attracted scholars’ attention. Thermal environment greatly influences the CLT properties and load bearing capacity of CLT, and the investigation can form the basis for predicting the structural response of such CLT-based structures. In the present work, the finite element method (FEM) is employed to analyze the thermal influence on the deformation of CLT. Furthermore, several factors were taken into consideration, including board layer number, hole conformation, and hole position, respectively. In order to determine the influence, several numerical models for different calculation were established. The calculation process was validated by comparing with published data. The performance is quantified by demonstrating the temperature distribution and structural deformation.
Innovative mass timber panels, known as composite laminated panels (CLP), have been developed using lumber and laminated strand lumber (LSL) laminates. In this study, strain distributions of various 5-layer CLP and cross-laminated timber (CLT) were investigated by experimental and two modelling methods. Seven (7) different panel types were tested in third-point bending and short-span shear tests. During the tests, the digital imaging correlation (DIC) technique was used to measure the normal and shear strain in areas of interest. Evaluated component properties were used to determine strain distributions based on the shear analogy method and finite element (FE) modelling. The calculated theoretical strain distributions were compared with the DIC test results to evaluate the validity of strain distributions predicted by the analytical model (shear analogy) and numerical model (FE analysis). In addition, the influence of the test setup on the shear strain distribution was investigated. Results showed that the DIC strain distributions agreed well with the ones calculated by the shear analogy method and FE analysis. Both theoretical methods agree well with the test results in terms of strain distribution shape and magnitude. While the shear analogy method shows limitations when it comes to local strain close to the supports or gaps, the FE analysis reflects these strain shifts well. The findings support that the shear analogy is generally applicable for the stress and strain determination of CLP and CLT for structural design, while an FE analysis can be beneficial when it comes to the evaluation of localized stresses and strains. Due to the influence of compression at a support, the shear strain distribution near the support location is not symmetric. This is confirmed by the FE method.
The Italian building heritage is aged and inadequate to the high-performance levels required nowadays in terms of energy efficiency and seismic response. Innovative techniques are generating a strong interest, especially in terms of multi-level approaches and solution optimizations. Among these, Nested Buildings, an integrated intervention approach which preserves the external existing structure and provides a new structural system inside, aim at improving both energy and structural performances. The research presented hereinafter focuses on the strengthening of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, thanks to their lightweight, high stiffness, and good hygrothermal characteristics. The improvement of the hygrothermal performance was investigated through a 2D-model analyzed in the dynamic regime, which showed a general decreasing in the overall thermal transmittance for the retrofitted configurations. Then, to evaluate the seismic behavior of the coupled system, a parametric linear static analysis was implemented for both in-plane and out-of-plane directions, considering various masonry types and connector spacings. Results showed the efficiency of the intervention to improve the in-plane response of walls, thus validating possible applications to existing URM buildings, where local overturning mechanisms are prevented by either sufficient construction details or specific solutions. View Full-Text
The objective of this study was to assess the potential effects of climate change on the moisture performance and durability of massive timber walls on the basis of results derived from hygrothermal simulations. One-dimensional simulations were run using DELPHIN 5.9.4 for 31 consecutive years of the 15 realizations of the modeled historical (1986–2016) and future (2062–2092) climates of five cities located across Canada. For all cities, water penetration in the wall assembly was assumed to be 1% wind-driven rain, and the air changes per hour in the drainage cavity was assumed to be 10. The mold growth index on the outer layer of the cross-laminated timber panel was used to compare the moisture performance for the historical and future periods. The simulation results showed that the risk of mold growth would increase in all the cities considered. However, the relative change varied from city to city. In the cities of Ottawa, Calgary and Winnipeg, the relative change in the mold growth index was higher than in the cities of Vancouver and St. John’s. For Vancouver and St. John’s, and under the assumptions used for these simulations, the risk was already higher under the historical period. This means that the mass timber walls in these two cities could not withstand a water penetration rate of 1% wind-driven rain, as used in the simulations, with a drainage cavity of 19 mm and an air changes per hour value of 10. Additional wall designs will be explored in respect to the moisture performance, and the results of these studies will be reported in a future publication. View Full-Text
The feasibility of manufacturing cross-laminated timber (CLT) from southern yellow pine (United States grown) treated with micronized copper azole type C (MCA-C) preservative was evaluated. Lumber (2x6 visually graded no. 2 boards) was treated to two retention levels (1.0 and 2.4 kg/m3 ), planed to a thickness of 35 mm, and assembled along with an untreated control group using three adhesive systems following product specifications: melamine formaldehyde (MF), resorcinol formaldehyde (RF), and one-component polyurethane (PUR). Block shear and delamination tests were conducted to examine the bonding performance in accordance with ASTM D905 and ASTM D2559 Standards, respectively. One-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis H test were conducted to evaluate the effects of preservative retention and adhesive type on block shear strength (BSS) and wood failure percentage (WFP). Regardless of adhesive type, the 1.0 kg/m3 retention treatment significantly lowered BSS compared to the untreated control. CLT composed of the laminations treated at 2.4 kg/m3 maintained BSS when PUR and RF were used but not MF. The average WFP of each CLT configuration ranged from 89% to 99%. The untreated CLT specimens did not experience any delamination under accelerated weathering cycles. The delamination rates of the treated specimens assembled using MF and RF increased with the preservative retention level, while PUR provided delamination rates less than 1% to the laminations treated at both levels. These combined data suggest that, under the conditions tested, PUR provided overall better bonding performance than MF and RF for MCA-C treated wood.
Sustainability and innovation are key components in the fight against climate change. Mass timber buildings have been gaining popularity due to the renewable nature of timber. Although research comparing mass timber buildings to more mainstream buildings such as steel is still in the early stages and therefore, limited. We are looking to determine the difference between carbon footprints of mass timber and traditional steel and concrete buildings. This is done with the intention of determining the sustainability and practicality of mass timber buildings.
Review of State of the Art of Dowel Laminated Timber Members and Densified Wood Materials as Sustainable Engineered Wood Products for Construction and Building Applications
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