Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an innovative engineering wood product made by gluing layers of solid-sawn lumber at perpendicular angles. The commonly used wood species for CLT manufacturing include spruce-pine-fir (SPF), douglas fir-larch, and southern pine lumber. With the hope of broadening the wood species for CLT manufacturing, the purposes of this study include evaluating the mechanical properties of black spruce CLT and analyzing the influence of CLT thickness on its bending or shear properties. In this paper, bending, shear, and compressive tests were conducted respectively on 3-layer CLT panels with a thickness of 105 mm and on 5-layer CLT panels with a thickness of 155 mm, both of which were fabricated with No. 2-grade Canadian black spruce. Their bending or shear resisting properties as well as the failure modes were analyzed. Furthermore, comparison of mechanical properties was conducted between the black spruce CLT panels and the CLT panels fabricated with some other common wood species. Finally, for both the CLT bending panels and the CLT shear panels, their numerical models were developed and calibrated with the experimental results. For the CLT bending panels, results show that increasing the CLT thickness whilst maintaining identical span-to-thickness ratios can even slightly reduce the characteristic bending strength of the black spruce CLT. For the CLT shear panels, results show that increasing the CLT thickness whilst maintaining identical span-to-thickness ratios has little enhancement on their characteristic shear strength. For the CLT bending panels, their effective bending stiffness based on the Shear Analogy theory can be used as a more accurate prediction on their experiment-based global bending stiffness. The model of the CLT bending specimens is capable of predicting their bending properties; whereas, the model of the CLT shear specimens would underestimate their ultimate shear resisting capacity due to the absence of the rolling shear mechanism in the model, although the elastic stiffness can be predicted accurately. Overall, it is attested that the black spruce CLT can provide ideal bending or shear properties, which can be comparable to those of the CLT fabricated with other commonly used wood species. Besides, further efforts should focus on developing a numerical model that can consider the influence of the rolling shear mechanism.
Results from a series of blast tests performed in October 2016 on three two-story, single-bay cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures demonstrated the ability of CLT construction to resist airblast loads in a predictable fashion. These tests were performed on structures without superimposed load to limit inertial resistance. Subsequently, a follow-on series of tests...
Comparison of Bending Stiffness of Cross-Laminated Solid Timber Derived by Modal Analysis of Full Panels and by Bending Tests of Strip-Shaped Specimens
International Conference on Contemporary Theory and Practice in Construction
Research Status
Complete
Summary
Invention of cross-laminated timber (CLT) was a big milestone for building with wood. Due to novelty of CLT and timber’s complex mechanical behavior, the existing design codes cover only rectangular CLT panels, simply supported along 2 parallel or all 4 edges, making numerical methods necessary in other cases. This paper presents a practical engineering tool for stress and deflection prediction of CLT panels with non-classical boundary conditions, based on the software for the computational analysis of laminar composites, previously developed by the authors. Diagrams applicable in engineering practice are developed for some common cases. The presented methodology could be a basis for more detailed design handbooks and guidelines for various layouts of CLT panels and different types of loadings.
The deregulation of timber for use in large scale constructions has seen the addition of new innovative timber-based products to a category of products referred to as engineered wood products. A now well established addition to these products is cross laminated timber, or CLT for short. CLT products use a form of orthogonal layering, where several parallel wooden boards are arranged in a number of layers, each layer being orthogonal to the previous. The use of orthogonal layering allows for increased stiffness in the two plane directions, resulting in a lightweight construction product with high load bearing capacity and stiffness.
To evaluate the dynamic behaviour of structures, engineers commonly apply the finite element method, where a system of equations are solved numerically. Given a sufficient amount of computational power and time, the finite element method can help to solve most dynamical problems. For sufficiently large or complex structures the amount of resources needed may be outside the scope of possibility or feasibility for many. Therefore, evaluating the usage of certain design simplifications, such as omitting to models aspects of the geometry, or alternative forms of analysis for CLT panels may help to reduce the time and resources required for an analysis.
In this Master's dissertation, a seven-layer CLT-panel has been created. In the model, each individual board and the gaps between the boards are modelled. The seven-layer model is used as a reference to evaluate the possibility of using less detailed alternative models. The alternative models are created as a layered 3D model and a composite 2D model, both models omit the modelling of the individual laminations, resulting in the layers being solid.
The results show small errors for the alternative models when using modal analysis. Concluding that the modal behaviour and dynamic response of a CLT panel can be evaluated using a composite 2D model or a less-detailed layered 3D model. This significantly reduces the amount of time and computational power needed for an analysis, and clearly indicates the benefit of using alternative less detailed models.
Rocking of narrow wall panels/columns causes embedding forces on the floor panels during earthquakes. In plain/out of plain compression tests and out of plain embedding tests of CLT panels were conducted. Compression and embedding strengths of in plain/o...
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