by Web Editor | Jul 17, 2017 | News
A two-story cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure is being subjected to the forces produced by a 1994 6.7 Northridge earthquake. The engineered simulation is expected to reveal ways in which tall wood buildings could survive damaging earthquakes.
Workers constructed a 22-foot tall wood test structure on UC San Diego’s shake table, a device for shaking structural models or building components with a wide range of simulated ground motions, like earthquakes.
Led by the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), the new test will examine the viability of constructing quake-resistant CLT buildings that could be as tall as 20 stories high.
“We are working to minimize the amount of time buildings are out of service after large earthquakes,” CSM engineer Shiling Pei said in a statement. “We are also focused on cutting the costs required to repair them.”
Cross-laminated timber advocates say it can be used to construct buildings of equal strength and fire-resistance as those made of steel and concrete. It has also fueled the passions of architects and environmentalists, who believe it to be a much greener method for housing the world’s growing population.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/two-story-cross-laminated-timber-simulated-67-earthquake?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Apr 5, 2017 | News
The U.S. Forest Service is working to build markets for innovative forest products. One of these products, cross-laminated timber, also known as CLT, offers an opportunity for raising tall buildings with wood, opening up a completely new market for wood products.
And there’s tremendous opportunity to increase the market share for wood-based construction. Because of its high strength, CLT is an advantageous alternative to traditional building materials such as concrete, masonry, and steel. Because CLT panels resist compression, they are well-suited for building multistory structures, especially mid-rise buildings. Made from layers of dried lumber boards, stacked in alternating direction at 90-degree angles, glued and pressed to form solid panels, CLT has exceptional strength and stability and can be used as walls, roofs, and floors.
Additionally, CLT is highly resilient to fire, earthquakes, and even explosions. In fact in a recent series of live blast tests, CLT passed with flying colors. An examination of the results showed that the CLT structures suffered less degradation than expected and might outlast concrete and steel.
In terms of fire, CLT is like using a large log to start a campfire—it doesn’t ignite easily. And when it does burn, a char layer forms on the outside, protecting the inside and allowing the wood panel to maintain its structural integrity during fire scenarios.
Researchers have conducted extensive seismic testing on CLT and found that the panels perform exceptionally well in multi-story applications. When a seven-story CLT building was tested on the world’s largest shake table in Japan, it survived 14 consecutive earthquake simulations with almost no damage.
From the USDA: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/04/04/build-better-stronger-faster-clt
