High performance rocking timber wall with innovative low-damage floor connections

Abstract

While mass timber structures are gaining more share of the new build structures considering their well-known advantages, rocking timber walls have been particularly popular with engineers and researchers due to their reliable and efficient seismic performance. With the current conventional approach of using rigid bracket plates and fasteners on rocking timber walls, not only floors and connections are prone to damage, but also the rocking motion is compromised. This paper proposes an innovative wall-to-floor and wall-to-beam mechanism that eliminates bulky rigid bracket connections and allows safe transfer of lateral loads, while dissipating seismic energy without damage as well as providing full self-centring. Numerical results present a few key advantages of this system, such as reduced drifts and seismic base shear and an increase in damping and seismic energy dissipation. The findings of this study demonstrate the significant potential of the proposed system for further developments and application in real structures.