Advanced Wood-Based Solutions for Mid-Rise and High-Rise Construction: Structural Performance of Post-Tensioned CLT Shear Walls with Energy Dissipators
The latest developments in seismic design philosophy have been geared towards developing of so called "resilient" or "low damage" innovative structural systems that can reduce damage to the structure while offering the same or higher levels of safety to occupants. One such innovative structural system is the Pres-Lam system that is a wood-hybrid system that utilizes post-tensioned (PT) mass timber components in both rigid-frame and wall-based buildings along with various types of energy disspators. To help implement the Pres-Lam system in Canada and the US, information about the system performance made with North American engineered wood products is needed. That information can later be used to develop design guidelines for the designers for wider acceptance of the system by the design community.Several components influence the performance of the Pres-Lam systems: the load-deformation properties of the engineered wood products under compression, load-deformation and energy dissipation properties of the dissipators used, placement of the dissipators in the system, and the level of post-tensioning force. The influence of all these components on the performance of Pres-Lam wall systems under gravity and lateral loads was investigated in this research project. The research project consisted of two main parts: material tests and system tests.
Braced mass timber (MT) frames are one of the most efficient structural systems to resist lateral loads induced by earthquakes or high winds. Although braced frames are presented as a system in the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC), no design guidelines currently exist in CSA O86. That not only leaves these efficient systems out of reach of designers, but also puts them in danger of being eliminated from NBCC. The main objective of this project was to develop the technical information needed for development of design guidelines for braced MT frames as a lateral load resisting system in CSA O86.
In the first year of the project, the seismic performance of thirty (30) braced MT frames with riveted connections with various numbers of storeys, storey heights, and bay aspect ratios were studied by conducting non-linear pushover and dynamic time-history analyses. Also, fifteen (15) glulam brace specimens using bolted connections with different slenderness ratios were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading. Results from this multi-year project will form the basis for developing comprehensive design guidelines for braced frames in CSA O86.
