Project contact is Keri Ryan at University of Nevada, Reno
Summary
A landmark shake table test of a 10-story mass timber building will be conducted in late 2020. The test program, funded by other sources, will help accelerate the adoption of economically competitive tall timber buildings by validating the seismic performance of a resilient cross-laminated timber (CLT) rocking wall system. In this project, we leverage and extend the test program by including critical nonstructural components and systems (NCS). Including NCSs, which are most vulnerable to rocking induced deformations of the CLT core, allows investigation of the ramification of this emerging structural type on building resiliency. Quantifying interactions amongst vertically and horizontally spanning NCSs during earthquake shaking will allow designers to develop rational design strategies for future installation of such systems. The expected research outcomes are to expand knowledge of rocking wall system interactions with various NCS, identify NCS vulnerabilities in tall timber buildings, and develop solutions to address these vulnerabilities. Moreover, this effort will greatly increase visibility of the test program. The results of this research will be widely disseminated to timber design and NCS communities through conference presentations, online webinars, and distribution to publicly accessible research repositories.
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.
New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Conference
Research Status
Complete
Notes
April 27-29, 2017, Wellington, New Zealand
Summary
With global urbanization trends, the demands for tall residential and mixeduse buildings in the range of 8~20 stories are increasing. One new structural system in this height range are tall wood buildings which have been built in select locations around the world using a relatively new heavy timber structural material known as cross laminated timber (CLT). With its relatively light weight, there is consensus amongst the global wood seismic research and practitioner community that tall wood buildings have a substantial potential to become a key solution to building future seismically resilient cities. This paper introduces the NHERI Tallwood Project recentely funded by the U.S. National Science Fundation to develop and validate a seismic design methodology for tall wood buildings that incorporates high-performance structural and nonstructural systems and can quantitatively account for building resilience. This will be accomplished through a series of research tasks planned over a 4-year period. These tasks will include mechanistic modeling of tall wood buildings with several variants of post-tensioned rocking CLT wall systems, fragility modeling of structural and non-structural building components that affect resilience, fullscale biaxial testing of building sub-assembly systems, development of a resilience-based seismic design (RBSD) methodology, and finally a series of full-scale shaking table tests of a 10-story CLT building specimen to validate the proposed design. The project will deliver a new tall building type capable of transforming the urban building landscape by addressing urbanization demand while enhancing resilience and sustainability.
This report is prepared for Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) by the NHERI TallWood Project team in order to provide a brief and timely update on the progress and preliminary research findings from the NHERI TallWood Project. This report is focused on the full-scale shake table test of a two-story mass timber building conducted during the summer of 2017 at NHERI@UC San Diego outdoor shake table.
The shake table test described in this report was conducted during a three-month period from June to August 2017. As the research team is still working on processing and analyzing the data obtained from the experiments, this report only discusses preliminary findings in a qualitative manner. The research team is expected to produce additional reports and publications based on the test results in the near future.
This paper presents results of an experimental study of commonly used angle bracket and hold-down connections in Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) wall systems under bi-directional loading. Monotonic and cyclic tests of the connections were carried out in one direction, while different levels of constant force were simultaneously applied in a perpendicular direction. The experiment aims to consider the combined and coupling effect of loads for connections in a rocking CLT shear wall system. Key mechanical characteristics of those connections were calculated, evaluated and discussed. The results show that shear and tension actions for hold-downs are quite independent but strongly coupled for angle brackets. The study gives a better understanding of hysteretic behaviour of CLT connections, and provides reliable data for future numerical analysis of CLT structures.
Resilient structures are buildings designed not only to protect life safety in a seismic event but also to preserve the structural integrity of the major components of the buildings so that they can be reoccupied quickly and at minimal cost. An example is a CLT rocking wall system, utilizing post-tensioned cables and energy dissipating-connectors, which is being used for the first time in North America in OSU’s new Peavy Hall. CLT rocking walls borrow from concepts used in concrete and steel structures that were later adapted to LVL building systems in New Zealand. This project will examine the impacts of wetting at the base of the wall on the structural capacity and cyclic performance of the system. Identical rocking wall systems will undergo structural testing, with one being subjected to simulated moisture intrusion that may occur during construction. The findings will provide important information that can be later implemented in design and construction guidelines.
Project contacts are Arijit Sinha, Andre Barbosa and Barbara Simpson at Oregon State University
Summary
The results of this proposal will provide guidance on efficient design and analysis strategies for wood building construction including rocking/post-tensioned and pivoting spines, a next-generation seismic force resisting system, for improved performance, safety, sustainability, and economy. The use of wood in tall buildings is limitied by strength and stiffness considerations. The use of CLT and MPP shear walls, supplemented by energy dissipators may be able to aleviate this problem. Several knowledge gaps exist in terms of the performance of mass timber lateral force resisting systems (LFRS), interconnectivity and compatibility between the modules and LFRS-to-gravity system, and potential hybridization of structural materials for the gravity system and LFRS. The recent 2017 two-story shake table test is the only full scale dynamic on rocking CLT LFRS with energy dissipators. Importantly, since MPP panels are also a recent addition in the mass timber industry, no experimental data exist regarding the self-centering performance of post-tensioned MPP wall panels.
