As the height of mass timber buildings continues to grow, a new set of design and detailing challenges arises, creating the need for new engineering solutions to achieve optimal building construction and performance. One necessary detailing consideration is vertical movement, which includes column shrinkage, joint settlement, and creep. The main concerns are the impact of deformations on vertical mechanical systems, exterior enclosures, and interior partitions, as well as differential vertical movement of timber framing systems relative to other building features such as concrete core walls and exterior façades.
Current environmental crisis calls for sustainable solutions in the building industry. One of the possible solutions is to incorporate timber-framed constructions into designs. Among other benefits, these structures are well established in many countries, originating in traditional building systems. This paper focuses on experimental timber-frame walls. Different wall assemblies vary in thermal insulation materials and their combinations. We investigated ten experimental wall structures that have been exposed to natural external boundary conditions since 2015. The emphasis was on their state in terms of visual deterioration, mass moisture content, and thermal conductivity coefficient. We detected several issues, including defects caused by inappropriate realization, causing local moisture increase. Material settlement in loose-fill thermal insulation was another issue. Concerning was a significant change in the thermal conductivity of wood fiber insulation, where the current value almost doubled in one case compared to the design value determined by the producer.
Construction of eco-friendly high-rise buildings using cross-laminated timber (CLT)-concrete composite (CCC) slabs is increasing. CLT and concrete, which are major component materials of the CCC slab, are significantly affected by moisture. In particular, the moisture content of concrete in the production process affects the quality of both materials. In this study, the effects of the wet construction method on CLT and concrete component materials are examined by monitoring the behavior of the CCC slab during curing time (28 d) and by evaluating the quality of the concrete and CLT after curing. When manufacturing the CCC using the wet construction method, moisture penetration from the concrete into the CLT during the curing time is suppressed by the shear bonding between the concrete and the CLT when an adhesive is used. This minimizes the effect of the moisture on both component materials, consequently yielding uniform compressive strength to the concrete after curing and preventing the deterioration of the CLT’s delamination performance. Therefore, the shear bonding method using an adhesive is expected to minimize the quality deterioration observed in concrete and CLT after curing.
Finite-Element-Based Prediction of Moisture-Induced Crack Patterns for Cross Sections of Solid Wood and Glued Laminated Timber Exposed to a Realistic Climate Condition
Moisture may significantly influence the dimensions and behavior of wooden elements and, thus, it is important to consider within both serviceability as well as ultimate limit state designs. Dimensional changes, also called swelling (during wetting) and shrinkage (during drying), are non-uniform due to the direction-dependent expansion coefficients of wood and usually lead to eigenstresses. If these exceed certain strength values, cracking may occur, which reduces the resistance to external loads, especially to shear stresses. The current standard Eurocode 5 takes these circumstances very simplified into account, by so-called service classes, defined based on the surrounding climate and average moisture levels over the course of a year. Accordingly, reduction factors for strength values and cross section widths are assigned.
For a better understanding of the climate-induced changes in wooden beams, we exposed 18 different beams with varying cross sections to a representative climate of Linz, Austria, within the framework of a finite element simulation and investigated the resulting moisture fields and crack patterns. For this purpose, expansions and linear-elastic stresses were simulated by using the thermal and moisture fields obtained in the first simulation step and expansion coefficients. Using a multisurface failure criterion, two critical points in time were determined for each cross section, at which advanced crack simulations were carried out using the extended finite element method. The resulting crack lengths showed that the Eurocode 5 assumption of a linear relationship between crack-free and total width could be verified for both drying and wetting cases.
In future, the obtained crack patterns might also be used to investigate the actual reduction of load-bearing capacities of such cross sections, since the position of a crack and, for example, the maximum shear stress may not coincide. For the first time in this work, a consistent concept is presented to estimate the resulting crack formation in a wooden element from any moisture load based on a mechanical well-founded simulation concept. For this reason, this work is intended to lay a basis for a more accurate consideration of climate-related loads on wooden elements up to timber constructions.
This new study aims to generate hygrothermal, particularly moisture-related performance data for light wood-frame walls meeting the R22 effective (RSI 3.85) requirement for buildings up to six storeys in the City of Vancouver. The overarching goal is to identify and develop durable exterior wood-frame walls to assist in the design and construction of energy efficient buildings across the country. Twelve test wall panels in six types of wall assemblies are assessed in this study. The wall panels, each measuring 4 ft. (1200 mm) wide and 8 ft. (2400 mm) tall, form portions of the exterior walls of a test hut located in the rear yard of FPInnovations’ Vancouver laboratory. This report, second in a series on this study, documents the performance of these wall assemblies based on the data collected over 19 months’ period from October 2018 to May 2020, covering two winter seasons and one summer.
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
A test program was conducted to generate hygrothermal performance data for light-wood-frame exterior walls meeting the R22 effective (RSI 3.85) requirement for buildings up to six storeys in the City of Vancouver. Six types of exterior wall assemblies, with 12 wall panels in total, were tested using a test hut located in the rear yard of FPInnovations’ Vancouver aboratory. This document provides a brief summary of the test and performance of these walls based on the data collected over the 19 months’ period from October 2018 to May 2020
Un programme d’essais a été réalisé en vue de générer des données sur le rendement hygrothermique des murs à ossature légère de bois qui répondent à l’exigence R22 (RSI 3,85) pour les bâtiments d'au plus six étages à Vancouver. Six types d’assemblage de mur extérieur, avec un total de 12 murs extérieurs, ont été mis à l’essai à l’aide d’une hutte d’essai située dans la cour arrière du laboratoire de FPInnovations à Vancouver. Le présent document présente un court résumé de l’essai et du rendement de ces murs en se basant sur les données recueillies sur une période de 19 mois, soit d’octobre 2018 à mai 2020 (Wang 2021).
This manual is helpful for experts and novices alike. Whether you’re new to mass timber or an early adopter you’ll benefit from its comprehensive summary of the most up to date resources on topics from mass timber products and applications to tall wood construction and sustainability.
The manual’s content includes WoodWorks technical papers, Think Wood continuing education articles, case studies, expert Q&As, technical guides and other helpful tools. Click through to view each individual resource or download the master resource folder for all files in one handy location. For your convenience, this book will be updated annually as mass timber product development and the market are quickly evolving.
The development of this primer commenced shortly after the 2018 launch of the Mass Timber Institute (MTI) centered at the University of Toronto. Funding for this publication was generously provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Although numerous jurisdictions have established design guides for tall mass timber buildings, architects and engineers often do not have access to the specialized building science knowledge required to deliver well performing mass timber buildings. MTI worked collaboratively with industry, design professionals, academia, researchers and code experts to develop the scope and content of this mass timber building science primer. Although provincially funded, the broader Canadian context underlying this publication was viewed as the most appropriate means of advancing Ontario’s nascent mass timber building industry. This publication also extends beyond Canada and is based on universally applicable principles of building science and how these principles may be used anywhere in all aspects of mass timber building technology. Specifically, these guidelines were developed to guide stakeholders in selecting and implementing appropriate building science practices and protocols to ensure the acceptable life cycle performance of mass timber buildings. It is essential that each representative stakeholder, developer/owner, architect/engineer, supplier, constructor, wood erector, building official, insurer, and facility manager, understand these principles and how to apply them during the design, procurement, construction and in-service phases before embarking on a mass timber building project.
When mass timber building technology has enjoyed the same degree of penetration as steel and concrete, this primer will be long outdated and its constituent concepts will have been baked into the training and education of design professionals and all those who fabricate, construct, maintain and manage mass timber buildings.
One of the most important reasons this publication was developed was to identify gaps in building science knowledge related to mass timber buildings and hopefully to address these gaps with appropriate research, development and demonstration programs. The mass timber building industry in Canada is still a collection of seedlings that continue to grow and as such they deserve the stewardship of the best available building science knowledge to sustain them until such time as they become a forest that can fend for itself.
