Experimental Performance and Structural Analysis of Plywood-Coupled LVL Walls
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 2
Abstract
Prestressed-laminated timber (Pres-Lam) design has recently been adopted for multistory timber buildings based on ongoing research at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. This system combines large timber members with unbonded posttensioning for recentering and ductile connections for energy dissipation. This paper describes the experimental, analytical, and numerical investigation of posttensioned laminated veneer lumber (LVL) walls coupled with plywood sheets subjected to both quasi-static cyclic and pseudodynamic seismic testing protocols. Different arrangements of nails, used to connect the plywood coupling panels with the posttensioned timber walls, have been tested to compare their energy dissipation characteristics. Simplified numerical macromodels with rotational spring elements have been developed to accurately represent the recentering contribution from the posttensioning and the pinched hysteric contribution of the nailed connections. The testing results provided good seismic performance, characterized by negligible damage of the structural members and very small residual deformations following drift levels of 2–2.5%. The only components significantly damaged, as designed, were the nailed connections between the plywood sheets and the LVL walls. These plywood sheets can be easily and cheaply removed and replaced with new sheets after an earthquake, creating a major reduction in postearthquake downtime. Combining these benefits together, the concept has potential for consideration as a cost-effective, high-performance solution for multistory timber buildings.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research described in this paper was financially supported by Forest Industries Development Agenda (FIDA). The LVL material was supplied by Carter Holt Harvey. Visiting researcher Florian Ludwig helped with the test setup, two unnamed reviewers helped in improvements in the paper, and all of their support is gratefully acknowledged.
References
ACI (American Concrete Institute). (2001). “Acceptance criteria for moment frames based on structural testing (T1.1-01) and commentary (T1.1R-01).” Farmington Hills, MI.
Buchanan, A., Deam, B., Fragiacomo, M., Pampanin, S., and Palermo, A. (2008). “Multi-storey prestressed timber buildings in New Zealand.” Struct. Eng. Int., 18(2), 166–173.
Buchanan, A., Palermo, A., Carradine, D., and Pampanin, S. (2011). “Post-tensioned timber frame buildings.” Struct. Eng., 89(17), 24–30.
Christopoulos, C., Filiatrault, A., Uang, C. M., and Folz, B. (2002). “Posttensioned energy dissipating connections for moment-resisting steel frames.” J. Struct. Eng., 1111–1120.
Dekker, D., Chung, S., and Palermo, A. (2012). “Carterton Events Centre auditorium Pres-Lam wall design and construction.” Proc., Annual Conf. of New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, NZSEE, Wellington, New Zealand.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). (1997). “NEHERP provisions for the rehabilitation of buildings.” FEMA No. 273 (Guidelines) and 274 (Commentary), Washington, DC.
fib (fédération internationale du béton). (2003). “Seismic design of precast concrete building structures.”, International Federation for Structural Concrete, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Futurebuild. (2003). “Information for design and installation.” Carter Holt Harvey Limited, Auckland, New Zealand.
ICBO (International Conference of Building Officials). (2000). “International building code.” Whittier, CA.
Iqbal, A., Pampanin, S., Buchanan, A., and Palermo, A. (2007). “Improved seismic performance of LVL post-tensioned walls coupled with UFP devices.” 8th Pacific Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, Wellington, New Zealand.
Iqbal, A., Pampanin, S., Palermo, A., Buchanan, A. H., and Fragiacomo, M. (2014). “Seismic design options for post-tensioned timber walls.” N. Z. Timber Des. J., 21(4), 3–10.
Kelly, J. M., Skinner, R. I., and Heine, A. J. (1972). “Mechanisms of energy absorption in special devices for use in earthquake resistant structures.” Bull. N. Z. Soc. Earthquake Eng., 5(3), 63–88.
Kurama, C., and Shen, Q. (2004). “Posttensioned hybrid coupled walls under lateral loads.” J. Struct. Eng., 297–309.
Mahin, S. A., and Shing, P.-S. B. (1985). “Pseudodynamic method for seismic testing.” J. Struct. Eng., 1482–1503.
Morcarz, P., and Krawinkler, H. (1981). “Theory and application of experimental model analysis in earthquake engineering.”, John Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA.
Newcombe, M. P., Marriott, D., Kam, W. Y., Pampanin, S., and Buchanan, A. H. (2011). “Design of UFP-coupled post-tensioned timber shear walls.” 9th Pacific Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, Wellington, New Zealand.
Newcombe, M. P., Pampanin, S., and Buchanan, A. H. (2010). “Experimental testing of a two-storey post-tensioned timber building.” 9th U.S. National and 10th Canadian Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Oakland, CA.
Newcombe, M. P., Pampanin, S., Buchanan, A. H., and Palermo, A. (2008). “Section analysis and cyclic behavior of post-tensioned jointed ductile connections for multi-story timber buildings.” J. Earthquake Eng., 12(Suppl. 1), 83–110.
NZCS (New Zealand Concrete Society). (2010). PRESSS design handbook, Wellington, New Zealand.
Palermo, A. (2004). “The use of controlled rocking in the seismic design of bridges.” Ph.D. thesis, Technical Univ. of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Palermo, A., Pampanin, S., and Buchanan, A. (2006a). “Experimental investigations on LVL seismic resistant wall and frame subassemblies.” Proc., 1st European Conf. on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, European Association for Earthquake Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey.
Palermo, A., Pampanin, S., Buchanan, A., and Newcombe, M. (2005a). “Seismic design of multi-storey buildings using laminated veneer lumber (LVL).” Proc., Annual Conf. of New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, NZSEE, Wellington, New Zealand.
Palermo, A., Pampanin, S., and Carr, A. J. (2005b). “Efficiency of simplified alternative modelling approaches to predict the seismic response of precast concrete hybrid systems.” fib Symp., fédération internationale du béton, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Palermo, A., Pampanin, S., Fragiacomo, M., Buchanan, A. H., and Deam, B. L. (2006b). “Innovative seismic solutions for multi-storey LVL timber buildings.” 9th World Conf. on Timber Engineering (CD-ROM), Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR.
Palermo, A., Pampanin, S., Fragiacomo, M., Buchanan, A. H., Deam, B. L., and Pasticier, L. (2006c). “Quasi-static cyclic tests on seismic-resistant beam-to-column and column-to-foundation subassemblies using laminated veneer lumber (LVL).” 19th Australasian Conf. on Mechanics and Materials, Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Pampanin, S., and Nishiyama, M. (2002). “Critical aspects in modelling the seismic behaviour of precast/prestressed concrete building connections and systems.” Proc., 1st fib Congress, fédération internationale du béton, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pampanin, S., Priestley, M. J. N., and Sritharan, S. (2001). “Analytical modelling of the seismic behaviour of precast concrete frames designed with ductile connections.” J. Earthquake Eng., 5(3), 329–367.
Priestley, M. J. N. (1991). “Overview of the PRESSS research program.” PCI J., 36(4), 50–57.
Priestley, M. J. N., Sritharan, S., Conley, J. R., and Pampanin, S. (1999). “Preliminary results and conclusions from the PRESSS five-story precast concrete test-building.” PCI J., 44(6), 42–67.
RUAUMOKO [Computer software]. Christchurch, New Zealand, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Canterbury.
Shultz, A. E., and Magana, R. A. (1996). “Seismic behavior of connections in precast concrete walls.”, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 273–311.
Smith, T., et al. (2007). “Seismic response of hybrid-LVL coupled walls under quasi-static and pseudo-dynamic testing.” Proc., Annual Conf. of New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, NZSEE, Wellington, New Zealand.
Smith, T., et al. (2014). “Shaking table testing of a multi-storey post-tensioned timber building.” Proc., Annual Conf. of New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, NZSEE, Wellington, New Zealand.
Smith, T., Carradine, D., Pampanin, S., Ditomasso, R., and Ponzo, F. C. (2012). “The seismic performance of a post tensioned LVL building during the 2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence.” 15th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, International Association for Earthquake Engineering, Tokyo.
Smith, T., Fragiacomo, M., Pampanin, S., and Buchanan, A. (2009). “Construction time and cost estimates for post-tensioned multi-storey timber buildings.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Constr. Mater., 162(4), 141–149.
SNZ (Standards New Zealand). (1993). “Timber structures standard.” NZS 3603, New Zealand.
SNZ (Standards New Zealand). (2004). “Structural design actions. Part 5: Earthquake actions.” NZS 1170.5, Wellington, New Zealand.
SNZ (Standards New Zealand). (2006). “Concrete structures standard. I—The design of concrete structures.” NZS 3101, Wellington, New Zealand.
Stanton, J. F., Stone, W. C., and Cheok, G. S. (1997). “A hybrid reinforced precast frame for seismic regions.” PCI J., 42(2), 20–23.
Stewart, W. G. (1987). “The design of plywood-sheathed shear walls.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 2 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 16, 2014
Accepted: Jun 30, 2015
Published online: Aug 26, 2015
Discussion open until: Jan 26, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.