Advanced Wood-Based Solutions for Mid-Rise and High-Rise Construction: Structural Performance of Post-Tensioned CLT Shear Walls with Energy Dissipators
The latest developments in seismic design philosophy have been geared towards developing of so called "resilient" or "low damage" innovative structural systems that can reduce damage to the structure while offering the same or higher levels of safety to occupants. One such innovative structural system is the Pres-Lam system that is a wood-hybrid system that utilizes post-tensioned (PT) mass timber components in both rigid-frame and wall-based buildings along with various types of energy disspators. To help implement the Pres-Lam system in Canada and the US, information about the system performance made with North American engineered wood products is needed. That information can later be used to develop design guidelines for the designers for wider acceptance of the system by the design community.Several components influence the performance of the Pres-Lam systems: the load-deformation properties of the engineered wood products under compression, load-deformation and energy dissipation properties of the dissipators used, placement of the dissipators in the system, and the level of post-tensioning force. The influence of all these components on the performance of Pres-Lam wall systems under gravity and lateral loads was investigated in this research project. The research project consisted of two main parts: material tests and system tests.
Project contact is Daniel Dowden at Michigan Technological University
Summary
This award will investigate a low-damage solution for cross-laminated timber (CLT) seismic force-resisting systems (SFRSs) using a novel uplift friction damper (UFD) device for seismically resilient mass-timber buildings. The UFD device will embrace the natural rocking wall behavior that is expected in tall CLT buildings, provide stable energy dissipation, and exhibit self-centering characteristics. Structural repair of buildings with these devices is expected to be minimal after a design level earthquake. Although CLT has emerged as a construction material that has revitalized the timber industry, there exists a lack of CLT-specific seismic energy dissipation devices that can integrate holistically with the natural kinematics of CLT-based SFRSs. CLT wall panels themselves do not provide any measurable seismic energy dissipation. As a payload to the large-scale, ten-story CLT building specimen to be tested on the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) shake table at the University of California, San Diego, as part of NSF award 1636164, “Collaborative Research: A Resilience-based Seismic Design Methodology for Tall Wood Buildings,” this project will conduct a series of tests with the UFD devices installed on the CLT building specimen. These tests will bridge analytical and numerical models with the high fidelity test data collected with realistic boundary and earthquake loading conditions. The calibrated models will be incorporated in a probabilistic numerical framework to establish a design methodology for seismically resilient tall wood buildings, leading to a more diverse and eco-sustainable urban landscape. This project will provide local elementary school outreach activities, integrate participation of undergraduate minorities and underrepresented groups into the research activities, and foster graduate level curriculum innovations. Project data will be archived and made available publicly in the NSF-supported NHERI Data Depot (https://www.DesignSafe-CI.org). This award contributes to NSF's role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).
The research objectives of this payload project are to: 1) bridge the fundamental mechanistic UFD models linking analytical and numerical models necessary for seismic response prediction of seismically resilient CLT-based SFRSs, 2) characterize the fundamental dynamic UFD behavior with validation and calibration through large-scale tests with realistic boundary conditions and earthquake loadings, and 3) integrate low-damage, friction-based damping system alternatives within a resilience-based seismic design methodology for tall wood buildings. To achieve these objectives, the test data collected will provide a critical pathway to reliably establish numerical and analytical models that extend the shake table test results to a broad range of archetype buildings. The seismic performance of mass-timber archetype building systems will be established through collapse risk assessment using incremental dynamic analyses. This will provide a first step in the longer term goal of establishing code-based seismic performance factors for CLT-based SFRSs.
Project contact is Chris Pantelides at the University of Utah
Summary
A mass timber buckling-restrained braced frame is proposed to enhance the seismic resilience of mass timber buildings. Constructed using wood generated from the national forest system, the mass timber buckling-restrained brace will be integrated with a mass timber frame for structural energy dissipation under seismic or wind loads. The team will improve and optimize the design of structural components based on feedback from a real-time health monitoring system. Outcomes include guidelines for a lateral force resisting system of mass timber buildings in high seismic or wind regions.
Dowel-laminated timber (DLT) elements consist of lamellae arranged side-by-side that are connected with beech dowels. Due to the glue-free DLT element layup, joints and shear walls potentially suffer from considerable reduction of stiffness and load carrying capacity as metal fasteners inserted perpendicular to the element plane may be placed in gaps between the single lamellae. Tests on typical joints showed that, depending on the fastener diameter, the remaining load carrying capacity of joints in DLT in comparison to joints in solid wood may be only 25%. Tests on DLT shear walls with different sheeting proved that the use of DLT structures as shear walls is only possible if at least one-sided sheeting is used. Cyclic tests on DLT shear walls demonstrated that the DLT construction typology has energy dissipation properties similar to traditional timber frame construction. Analogously, preliminary behaviour factors for DLT buildings evaluated with numerical models were also similar to those for timber frame buildings.
Controlled rocking heavy timber walls (CRHTW) were originally developed in New Zealand as a lowdamage seismic force resisting system using Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). This paper examines one way of adapting them to regions of low-to-moderate seismicity in North America, using Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) composed of Canadian timber species. In particular, the adaptation simplifies the CRHTW by omitting supplemental energy dissipation and minimizing the potential for long-term damage to the timber from the post-tensioning. Key assumptions that are used in the design and analysis stages are evaluated with regard to the difference between timber products, and the structural performance of a prototype CRHTW design is confirmed by nonlinear time history analysis. Despite the lack of supplemental energy dissipation, the prototype design performs well with negligible residual drifts and a median peak roof drift of 0.63%. Future research is identified for the continued development of the adapted CRHTW.
The development of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel technology has opened up new opportunities for wood in tall buildings. Several characteristics including seismic performance and speed of construction have raised interest among designers. As CLT gains acceptance in the industry, alternative structural solutions need to be investigated to improve performance of CLT as a building material. The first study presented is an assessment of the viability of hybrid poplar for use in CLT panels. Hybrid poplar is a low density species, which is not typically considered for structural applications. Low density species have the potential to improve the structural efficiency of CLT panels. The tests conducted are based on the qualification of panels outlined in the ANSI/APA PRG-320: Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber to determine the structural viability of the CLT panels. The second study presented is an investigation of a new alternative energy dissipation solution to be used with cross-laminated timber rocking walls for seismic design. The energy dissipators are designed as a structural fuse which can be easily replaced after failure following a large seismic event. The results of this study give insight to alternative solutions for CLT to improve upon current applications.
This paper presents an experimental campaign conducted on the beam-to-column glulam joints combing glued-in rods and steel brackets (BCGS glulam joints) aiming to investigate the mechanical behaviour of these glulam joints under low cyclic loading. Three types of steel brackets were designed for connecting the beam and column combing with glued-in rods and to work as energy dissipaters. In each group of specimens (except for group MJ4), two specimens were tested under monotonic loading and the others were subjected to low cyclic loading. The test results were summarized comprehensively in terms of failure modes, joint stiffness, hysteresis loops, ductility and energy dissipation ability. Generally, the difference of load capacity between BCGS glulam joints and the beam-to-column glulam joints only with glued-in rods (BCG glulam joints) was not significant. The joint stiffness of BCG glulam joints was higher than that of the BCGS glulam joints, while the stiffness degradation of the later is slower than the former. The hysteresis loops of the BCGS glulam joints exhibited less pinching effect obviously compared with the BCG glulam joints, which indicated that the energy dissipation ability of the glulam joints with glued-in rods could be improved significantly by using the steel brackets as energy dissipaters. Moreover, it should be noted that the hysteresis loops of groups CJ1 showed slipping effect obviously during testing. This might due to the insufficient shear resistance of these two groups, so that further investigations on BCG glulam joints with shear-resisting components are urgently needed.
The paper presents the design and detailing, and the experimental quasi-static 2/3 scale tests of two posttensioned wall systems: a single (more traditional) wall system (Figure 2) and a new configuration comprising of a column-wall-column coupled system (Figure 3). The latter allows avoiding displacement incompatibilities issues between the wall and the diaphragm by using the boundary columns as supports.
This paper presents the preliminary design of a rocking Cross-laminated Timber (CLT) wall using a displacement-based design procedure. The CLT wall was designed to meet three performance expectations: immediate occupancy (IO), life safety (LS), and collapse prevention (CP). Each performance expectation is defined in terms of an inter-story drift limit with a predefined non-exceedance probability at a given hazard level. U-shape flexural plates were used to connect the vertical joint between the CLT panels to obtain a ductile behavior and adequate energy dissipation during seismic motion. A design method for ensuring self-centering mechanism is also presented.