With the increased usage of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) in the United States, research efforts have been focused on demonstrating CLT as an effective Seismic Force Resisting System (SFRS). Presented in this paper are the findings of full-scale shake table tests of a two-story 223 m2 (2400 ft2) building with two sets of CLT shear walls on the first and second story. The testing consisted of three phases, each with a unique wall configuration, but only the first phase is presented herein, which consisted of a shear wall with 4:1 aspect ratio CLT panels. The structure was subjected to ground motions scaled to intensities that correspond to a Service Level Earthquake (SLE), Design Base Earthquake (DBE), and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) respectively. In all phases and motions the structure performed well and was in accordance with FEMA collapse prevention requirements for each motion intensity.
The nonlinear behaviour of connections between structural elements is critical to the performance of mass-timber structures under seismic loads. However, limited work has been developed in nonlinear modelling and fragility assessment of mass-timber structures. To improve the accuracy of this approach, in particular when considering structures with ring-doweled moment-resisting connections, a nonlinear modelling approach and fragility assessment are proposed and a prototype example of a three-story building is analysed herein as a case study. For the case study, connections and members were designed following the prescriptions in Eurocode 5 and Eurocode 8, considering a high ductility structure. The mechanical properties of the structure are modelled as random variables to evaluate the impact of uncertainty on the prediction of the structural performance, in particular, on the probability of occurrence of ductile and brittle failure modes. The structure is studied under both nonlinear static analysis and multi-record incremental dynamic analysis. From these, fragility curves for different damage levels are computed and a q-factor is proposed. Results indicate that the requirements of Eurocode 5 and Eurocode 8 are sufficient to guarantee adequate performance for this type of structure, albeit these may be overconservative. Moreover, it is shown that uncertainties in material properties have a significant impact on the collapse capacity of these structures.
16th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering
Research Status
Complete
Summary
The NHERI TallWood project is a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded four-year research project focusing on the development of a resilient tall wood building design philosophy. One of the first major tasks within the project was to test a full-scale two-story mass timber building at the largest shake table in the U.S., the NHERI at UCSD’s outdoor shake table facility, to study the dynamic behaviour of a mass timber building with a resilient rocking wall system. The specimen consisted of two coupled two-story tall post-tensioned cross laminated timber rocking walls surrounded by mass timber gravity frames simulating a realistic portion of a building floor plan at full scale. Diaphragms consisted of bare CLT at the first floor level and concrete-topped, composite CLT at the roof. The specimen was subjected to ground motions scaled to three intensity levels representing frequent, design basis, and maximum considered earthquakes. In this paper, the design and implementation of this test program is summarized. The performance of the full building system under these different levels of seismic intensity is presented.
Currently, design of tall wood buildings is generally accomplished in the USA through the so-called alternate means process, with requires extensive testing, engineering analysis, and a stringent peer review process. As it pertains to cross-laminated timber (CLT), it is critical to develop effective performance prediction models, through laboratory testing elaborating on material behaviors (e.g. hygrothermal, vibrational, etc.) as well as monitoring data on the mid- to long-term performance of timber structures in situ. This paper presents the scope and preliminary outcomes of a project aiming to cross reference laboratory research and in-situ monitoring to establish a holistic performance-monitoring protocol for mass timber buildings; this protocol can later serve to define standards for mid- to long-term monitoring as well as to develop guidelines for the design of mass timber structures.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a prefabricated solid engineered wood product made of at least three orthogonally bonded layers of solid-sawn lumber that are laminated by gluing longitudinal and transverse layers with structural adhesives to form a solid panel. Previous studies have shown that the CLT buildings can perform well in seismic loading and are recognized as the essential role of connector performance in structural design, modelling, and analysis of CLT buildings. When CLT is composed of high-grade/high-density layers for the outer lamellas and low-grade/lowdensity for the core of the panels, the CLT panels are herein designated as hybrid CLT panels as opposed to conventional CLT panels that are built using one lumber type for both outer and core lamellas. This paper presents results of a testing program developed to estimate the cyclic performance of CLT connectors applied on hybrid CLT layups. Two connectors are selected, which can be used in wall-to-floor connections. These are readily available in the North American market. Characterization of the performance of connectors is done in two perpendicular directions under a modified CUREE cyclic loading protocol. Depending on the mode of failure, in some cases, testing results indicate that when the nails or screws penetrate the low-grade/low-density core lumber, a statistically significant difference is obtained between hybrid and conventional layups. However, in other cases, due to damage in the face layer or in the connection, force-displacement results for conventional and hybrid CLT layups were not statistically significant.
This paper presents a new alternative energy dissipation solution to be used with cross-laminated timber (CLT) self-centering walls. CLT is a relatively new building product in North America and could potentially be used for high-rise construction. The development of high-performance seismic design solutions is necessary to encourage innovative structures and the design of these structures to new heights. The objective of this paper is to propose a wall-to-floor connection system that is easy to install and replace (structural fuse) after the occurrence of a large damaging event. The proposed energy dissipators are fabricated following concepts used in developing steel buckling restrained steel braces (BRB), having a milled portion, which is designed to yield and is enclosed within a grouted steel pipe. The connection system is investigated experimentally through a test sequence of displacement-controlled cycles based on a modified version of the test method developed by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) to facilitate development of special precast systems (ACI T1.1-01 Acceptance Criteria for Moment Frames Based on Structural Testing). Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was used to analyze strain behavior of the milled portion, as well as track movement of the panels during quasi-static uniaxial and cyclic testing. The results show the yield behavior and energy dissipation properties of the connection system. Damage was focused primarily in the energy dissipators, with negligible deformation and damage to the CLT panels and connections.