The objective of this study was to test a method under development for assigning allowable properties to foreign species graded by American Lumber Standard machine-stress-rated (MSR) rules. The method was tested on dahurian larch (Larix dahurica), a major softwood species that grows in the Russian Far East and could be...
The performance of full-scale light-frame wood walls subjected to wave loading was examined using the Large Wave Flume of the Network for Earthquake Engineering (NEES) Tsunami Facility at Oregon State University. The hydrodynamic conditions (water level and bore speed) and structural response (horizontal force, pressure, and deflection) were observed for...
Tsunami force and pressure distributions on a rigid
wall fronted by a small seawall were determined experimentally
in a large-scale wave flume. Six different
seawall heights were examined, two of which were exposed
to a range of solitary wave heights. The same
experiment was done without a seawall for comparison....
Recent natural disasters around the world including
both tsunamis and hurricanes, have highlighted the inability
of wood buildings to withstand wave and surge
loading during these extreme events. Little is known
about the interaction between coastal residential light-frame
wood buildings and wave and surge loading because
often little is left...
Global sustainability goals have led to the development of the green building movement. The Green
Building Program, stemming from the movement, has had unprecedented success as it provides a quantifi able
metric to people’s efforts towards sustainable development. Sustainable development and green buildings are often
used interchangeably. Although, sustainable development...
Tornadoes represent a unique natural hazard because of the very low probability of
occurrence, short warning times (on the order of only a few minutes), and the intense and
destructive forces imposed on engineered and non-engineered buildings. The very low-probability very high-consequence nature of a tornado strike makes designing for...
Fracture toughness of wood and wood composites has traditionally been characterized by a stress intensity factor, an initiation strain energy release rate (G[subscript init]) or a total energy to fracture (G[subscript f]). These parameters provide incomplete fracture characterization for these materials because the toughness changes as the crack propagates. Thus...
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 Great Tohoku Japan earthquake and tsunami focused a great deal of the world’s attention on the effect of tsunamis on buildings and infrastructure. When a tsunami impacts structures in a coastal community, the structures are often not strong enough to withstand the...
Current compression perpendicular-to-grain (C-perpendicular to) design values for wood members are based on mean stress obtained from ASTM D143 specimen. The standard ASTM test with metal on wood bearing has limited applicability in modern construction assemblies with C-perpendicular to loading scenarios. Previous work has shown that end-bearing conditions and wood-on-wood...
The effect of grain angle (GA) on shear strength of Douglas-fir has been evaluated. Shear block specimens with a GA varying from 0 to 90° was loaded in the shear plane, resulting in failure mode transitioning from parallel to grain shear to rolling shear. As expected, shear strength decreased as...