Long-term deformation behaviour of timber columns: Monitoring of a tall timber building in Switzerland

Abstract

Knowledge on the short and long term deformation behavior of highly loaded components in tall timber buildings is important in view of improving future design possibilities with respect to serviceability, both in the construction and in the operational state. In this paper, we present the results of a monitoring case-study on a tall timber-hybrid building in Switzerland, a 15 storey and 60 m high office building completed in 2019. A fibre-optic measuring system showed an increase of the deformation with increasing load during the construction phase of highly stressed spruce-GLT and beech-LVL columns. However, the highest strain values were not reported in the columns themselves but at the ceiling transitions and in the area near their supports. The measurements on the columns were compared with model calculations for long-term deformation of timber elements in order to differentiate single components of the total deformation caused by load, time, and changes in climate during the construction. Over a monitoring period of a year, good agreement of the modelled deformations could be confirmed, which indicates that such models could be well suited for future usage in serviceability design of tall timber buildings.