A candidate CLT diaphragm analysis model approach is presented and evaluated as an engineering design tool motivated by the needs of seismic design in the United States. The modeling approach consists of explicitly modeling CLT panels as discrete orthotropic shell elements with connections between panels and connections from panels to structural framing modelled as two-point springs. The modeling approach has been compared to a developed CLT diaphragm design example based on U.S. standards showing the ability to obtain matching deflection results. The sensitivity of the deflection calculations to considering CLT panel-to-panel connection gap closure is investigated using a simple diaphragm example. The proposed modeling approach is also applied to the candidate floor diaphragm design for the Framework project, one of the two U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition winners, currently under design. Observations from this effort are that the proposed method, while a more refined model than typically used during building design, shows promise to meet the needs of innovative CLT seismic designs where appropriate simpler diaphragm models are not available.
New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Conference
Research Status
Complete
Notes
April 27-29, 2017, Wellington, New Zealand
Summary
Framework is a 12-story, 140ft (43m) tall mixed use building to be constructed almost entirely out of mass timber, including both the gravity and lateral forceresisting systems, in a region of high seismicity in the United States (Portland, Oregon). Utilizing performance-based seismic design and nonlinear response history analysis, the structure’s rocking/re-centering cross laminated timber walls were designed for enhanced, beyond-code-level seismic objectives. These enhanced objectives were targeted through more stringent criteria on deformation-controlled elements, design for replacement of energy dissipaters, limitations on residual drift, and a project-specific testing program completed at Oregon State University and Portland State University.
The momentum behind construction of mass timber buildings in the United States provides an opportunity to promote resilient/low-damage design which is consistent with the sustainability goals of many of these projects. This also follows naturally from the inherent rocking/re-centering behavior of mass timber walls. Furthermore, extending rocking mass timber walls to taller buildings is feasible; however, it requires an additional level of thoughtful design, explicit analysis and testing, and careful detailing, including consideration of the effective shear modulus of CLT, wall shear amplification due to higher mode effects, deformation compatibility of gravity connections, and CLT diaphragms.
