Special Issue on Seismic Resistant Timber Structures

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in timber buildings around the world, owed in part to the naturally optimal structural properties of timber and to the environmental advantages of building with timber. Several midrise buildings have been constructed, including a nine-story building in London, a ninestory building in Milan, and a 10-story building in Melbourne. A 14-story building is being constructed in Norway, and even taller timber buildings have been designed in Sweden, Austria, and Canada. Timber is a lightweight material and, as such, performs particularly well in moderate to intense earthquakes. However wood itself is not ductile and can have brittle failure modes, such as splitting, if not addressed properly within the seismic design procedure. A large body of research has been completed, and a number of projects are under way worldwide on the seismic behavior of timber structures and buildings. Full-scale shake table tests have been conducted in Japan, the United States, and Europe on an array of designs. Extensive component and joint testing has also been completed, and advanced numerical models developed. An effort has been made to implement this new knowledge in codes of practice, such as the Eurocode and the New Zealand and the Canadian standards. This special issue brings together papers from the key researchers all over the world working on the seismic resistance of timber structures. It includes a forum paper and 17 technical papers presenting research carried out in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, China, Japan, and New Zealand. Five topics are addressed: (1) light-frame timber buildings, (2) retrofit of existing light-frame timber buildings, (3) cross-laminated timber buildings, (4) innovative rocking and hybrid heavy timber walls, and (5) alternative bracing systems.