Mass timber (MT) building systems are gaining momentum around the world, especially in Canada where Federal and Provincial governments encourage the greater use of wood in construction projects through various promotion programs such as GCWood Program. In the meanwhile, seismic design provisions in the 2020 National Building Code of Canada have been revised, resulting in significantly higher seismic loads for structures in many locations. Consequently, there is a need to develop new lateral load resisting systems that allow mass timber structures to better compete against their counterparts in steel, concrete and masonry. Building on the success of midply shear walls for wood-frame construction, a multi-year research project was initiated at FPInnovaitons to develop MT version of midply shear wall systems that have greater structural capacities, fire, and acoustical performance.
In the first year of this project, literature reviews were conducted to identify the code requirements on MT components and to survey the available LLRSs used in the MTstructures. Conceptual MT midply wall systems meeting structural, fire, and acoustical performance requirements were proposed. An advisory group meeting was held to evaluate the practicability of the proposed MT midply systems. In the next fiscal year, the proposed MT Midply will be optimised further according to the comments and suggestions from the advisory group. Analytical evaluation of the proposed MT Midply wall systems along with necessary tests will be conducted. Based on the evaluation, a go / no-go decision will be made as to whether the study should be continued for the proposed MT Midply.
National Building Code of Canada (NBC) 2020 is the latest edition of the national model code that will be published towards the end of 2021. Based on the best available information from the Standing Committee on Earthquake Design (SCED) at the time of writing this report, the seismic design demand in the NBC 2020 has increased for all site classes for many locations across the country. Also, there are other changes in NBC 2020 that might impact the seismic analysis and design of timber buildings. The main objective of this report is to compare the NBC 2020 to the 2015 edition, with emphasis on the level of the seismic design loads (demands), and potential impacts on the analysis and design of timber buildings.
Mass timber (MT) products, such as Glued Laminated Timber (GLT), Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL), Nail Laminated Timber (NLT), Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT), Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL), Parallel Strand Lumber (PSL), Mass Plywood Panels (MPP) and others, provide options for developing efficient structural systems to resist gravity and lateral loads. Such systems can be competitive alternatives to their steel and concrete counterparts. This InfoNote briefly introduces the MT Seismic Force Resisting Systems (SFRSs) that will be implemented in the 2020 National Building Code (NBC) of Canada, their height limits, and the main design requirements according to Canadian Standard for Engineering Design in Wood CSA O86-19. Differences among height limits for MT gravity and lateral load resisting systems are also discussed.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most forested country in the Balkan area, and Sweden and Slovenia are two of the most densely forested countries in the European Union. Living habits differ considerably between these three countries, but the use of wood is very similar. This book grew out of the collaboration of three wood scientists with totally different backgrounds who met and discussed their common interest – wood. Based on the different experiences in each country, the idea was to try to find ways to increase the common knowledge base for the use of wood, achieving excellence in timber design research and education; the architect with a deep knowledge of culture based needs, the engineer with experience and knowledge of technological needs, and the practitioner who always has to find the final solution.
