The use of coupled CLT walls in the field of timber building is strongly increasing, thanks especially their easiness of construction and transportation. In this paper, for a single wall made of two coupled panels, an equivalent frame model for the corresponding analysis is proposed, based on both a simplified and more detailed procedure. The equivalent frame for a single wall consists of a beam cantilever element, with a specific flexural and shear stiffness, that takes into account the influence of the mechanical connections by means of a rotational elastic spring placed at the base of the frame.
The proposed simplified method, according to the hypotheses commonly adopted in literature, assumes that the panels show infinite compression stiffness at the base-section, but in addition takes into account the reduction of stiffness due to the coupling behaviour. Conversely, the detailed method considers also the effect of the compression deformability at the base of the panels. The analytical results of the equivalent frame, compared with the ones given by a FEM model based on shell elements, show good agreement.
