Experimental research on lateral performance of CLT shear walls with novel dissipative angle brackets and hold-downs

Abstract

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures offer a prospective solution to mid- and high-rise buildings. This paper reports experimental research on the lateral performance of CLT shear walls with novel dissipative angle brackets and hold-downs adopting soft-steel bracket and rubber. Quasi-static tests were performed on seven full-scale walls, comprising five walls with dissipative connections, one with in-situ replaced dissipative connections on already used CLT panels, and one with conventional metal connections, to investigate the influence of vertical load distributions, aspect ratios, and reparability. Failure modes, mechanical properties, and energy dissipation capacity were obtained and analyzed. The results show that the damage of the walls with dissipative connections primarily occurred at the connections, and these walls have excellent lateral deformation capacity, whose inter-story drift ratio can be up to 4.35%. Compared with the conventional metal connections, the walls with dissipative connections exhibit 26% higher ductility, 37.6% greater energy dissipation capacity and higher equivalent viscous damping ratios. Meanwhile, the repaired CLT shear walls maintained similar mechanical properties as the original wall, showing satisfactory reparability. Furthermore, non-linear numerical models were established to predict the walls’ lateral behavior, and the analytical hysteresis curves agree well with the test results.