Ductile cross laminated timber (CLT) platform structures with passive damping

Abstract

Multi-storey platform cross laminated timber (CLT) structures are becoming progressively desirable for engineers and owners. This is because they offer many significant advantages such as speed of fabrication, ease of construction, and excellent strength to weight ratio. With platform construction, stories are fixed together in a way that each floor bears into load bearing walls, therewith creating a platform for the next level. The latest research findings have shown that CLT platform buildings constructed with traditional fasteners can experience a high level of damage especially in those cases where the walls have adopted hold-down brackets and shear connectors with nails, rivets or screws. Thus, the current construction method for platform CLT structures is less than ideal in terms of damage avoidance. The main objective of this study is to develop a low damage platform timber panelised structural system using a new configuration of slip friction devices in lieu of traditional connectors. A numerical model of such a system is developed for a low rise CLT building and then is subjected to reversed cyclic load simulations in order to investigate its seismic performance. The result of these quasi-static simulations demonstrated that the system maintained the strength through numerous cycles of loading and unloading. In addition to this, the system is capable of absorbing significant amount of energy. The findings of this study demonstrate the proposed concept has the potential to be developed as a low damage seismic solution for CLT platform buildings.