Technical Papers
Sep 19, 2023

Influence of Cross-Laminated Timber Floors and Their Connections on the Robustness of Mass-Timber Building: A Case Study on a Midrise Building

Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37, Issue 6

Abstract

Mass-timber construction is becoming more prevalent in Australia and around the world. However, as these mass-timber buildings become taller, it is important to consider robust detailing against accidental damages to major load-bearing elements and thereby avoid potential progressive collapse scenarios. In order to better understand the robustness of typical mass-timber buildings, this study analyzed a typical 10-story midrise mass-timber building subjected to different progressive collapse scenarios. A scenario-independent approach was considered in the analysis, which includes the sudden removal of a load-bearing glulam column from the midrise mass-timber building. It was observed that when internal ties and bracings were provided, the robustness of the building was not affected as there was an alternative load path created. The orthogonal tie beam and diagonal bracing can transfer about 60% and 20% of the axial loads of the removed column to the adjacent columns, respectively. It was found that the building becomes vulnerable when no internal tie or bracing is available to transfer the accidental load. In this scenario, higher stiffness of the cross-laminated timber panel-to-panel joint can be adopted to improve the robustness of mass-timber building.

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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.

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the 2022–2023 Fellowship of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), 210927702.

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Go to Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37Issue 6December 2023

History

Received: Jun 5, 2023
Accepted: Jul 24, 2023
Published online: Sep 19, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 19, 2024

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Thusiyanthan Ponnampalam
Ronnie & Koh Consultants Pte Ltd., 28 Sin Ming Ln., Midview City, Singapore 573972.
School of Engineering, RMIT Univ., Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7772-4531. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Julian Thamboo, Ph.D.
Dept. of Civil Engineering, South Eastern Univ. of Sri Lanka, Oluvil 32360, Sri Lanka.
Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT Univ., Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3503-7431

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