Structural Implications of Increased Panel Use in Wood-Frame Buildings
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 121, Issue 6
Abstract
To improve performance and lower cost, conventional wood-frame construction has evolved to incorporate increasing numbers of manufactured components. Through recent work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop a panelized roof system, other, more general observations have been made about the structural implications of panel use, and these observations form the basis for this paper. A partial exploration of structural response in conventional wood-frame construction is included as background, with a particular emphasis on sheathing. Panelized and modularized buildings represent a significant shift from historical practice, with structural implications for floors, walls, and roofs. Without the structural redundancy and load sharing that continuous envelope sheathing provides, panelized wood-frame buildings require more and careful engineering to achieve performance comparable to conventional construction. Floors, walls, and roofs need panel-to-panel joints that resist differential transverse deflection and possess in-plane shear strength and stiffness comparable to site-built, staggered-sheathed assemblies. Wherever structural response includes diaphragm action, the disruption of sheathing and perimeter-chord continuity both have consequences for panelized building systems.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 121 • Issue 6 • June 1995
Pages: 995 - 1003
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Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Jun 1, 1995
Published in print: Jun 1995
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