Prevention of Disproportionate Collapse for Multistory Mass Timber Buildings: Review of Current Practices and Recent Research
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 7
Abstract
The expanding height of multistory mass timber buildings makes the development of guidance to prevent disproportionate collapse an increasingly important area of engineering design; however, there is no guidance available in building codes or design standards on how to prevent disproportionate collapse of multistory mass timber buildings. In this paper, practical project-specific solutions applied in constructed prominent multistory mass timber buildings to prevent disproportionate collapse are presented. Various approaches have been successfully used for different construction types of multistory mass timber buildings to decrease the potential risk of disproportionate collapse, such as using walls above supports as deep beams and using columns to carry tension forces and hold the floor below in case a supporting column or wall is damaged. Then, recent and ongoing research in the field of prevention of disproportionate collapse of multistory timber buildings is reviewed. Such research is mostly based on numerical simulations of element removal scenarios and pushdown experiments on floor systems and connections and provides valuable insights and guidance to designers on important structural aspects regarding the prevention of disproportionate collapse in multistory mass timber buildings. Finally, the draft provisions for an upcoming standard related to the prevention of disproportionate collapse are reviewed, and the conclusions regarding the state of the art are presented.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 7 • July 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 4, 2021
Accepted: Feb 23, 2022
Published online: Apr 28, 2022
Published in print: Jul 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Sep 28, 2022
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