Developing seismic performance factors for cross laminated timber in the United States

Abstract

This paper presents recent progress in the development of seismic performance factors for cross-laminated timber (CLT) systems in the United States. A brief overview of some of other systematic studies conducted in Europe, North America, and Japan is also provided. The FEMA P695 methodology is briefly described and selected results from connector testing and CLT wall testing are discussed. Shear and uplift tests were performed on generic angle brackets to quantify their behavior. CLT walls with these connectors were then tested investigate the influence of various parameters on wall component performance. The influential factors considered include boundary condition, gravity loading, CLT grade, panel thickness, and panel aspect ratio (height:length). Results indicate that boundary condition and gravity loading have beneficial effect on strength and stiffness of the CLT panels. CLT grade is an important parameter while CLT panel thickness only has a minimal influence on wall behavior. Higher aspect ratio (4:1) panels demonstrated less stiffness but considerably more ductility than the panels with lower aspect ratio (2:1). This paper also provides details on some on-going efforts including additional tests planned, index buildings from which P-695 archetypes will be extracted, and nonlinear modeling for this project.

Citation

van de Lindt, John; Amini, M. Omar; Rammer, Doug; Line, Philip; Pei, Shiling; Popovski, Marjan. 2016. Developing seismic performance factors for cross laminated timber in the United States. In: Proceedings, the 11th Canadian conference on earthquake engineering. Vancouver, BC: Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering: 1-10.