With high costs of testing and rating a structural system for
fire resistance, the utilization of computer simulations that
approximate the integrity of structural subsystems could conceivably
reduce development costs. Before an analysis of a light-frame wood
system can occur, information on the components of the substructure
must be known....
In a majority of light-frame wood buildings, studs
and joists are the basic structural components in walls
and floors. The walls act as bending and compressive
panels and transmit lateral wind and gravity loads to the
foundation. Joists are used in floor systems, and
together with the sheathing member act...
Heavy timber framing relies primarily on bracing to withstand lateral loads due to earthquakes and wind events. Bracing configurations in heavy timber framed buildings vary widely and include cross bracing, knee bracing, and other geometries. Many heavy timber frames constructed during colonial American times are still standing, exceeding the expected...
Key parts of the lateral force resisting system in wood-frame buildings
are the shearwafls and the connections. The connections in wooden buildings
are the primary source of ductility and energy dissipation; these are essential
properties when buildings are exposed to lateral forces, such as wind and
earthquakes. Shearwall design is...
Light-frame construction practices and materials have changed greatly
over the past 100 years. Contemporary research has focused on modern construction; thus, we know a great deal about the behavior of modern lightframe buildings under lateral forces. However, there are many light-frame buildings that were built prior to the introduction of...
Nailed connections have nonlinear load-displacement
relations. Modeling these connections in an assembled
structure would require a great amount of computational time
because of the large number of degrees of freedom.
Replacing these connections with energetically-equivalent
nonlinear springs reduces the number of degrees of freedom,
and leads to computational efficiency in...
The reinforcement of wood and wood composite structural products to improve
their mechanical properties has been in practice for many years. Recently, the use of high-strength
fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) as a reinforcement in such applications has been
commercialized.
The reinforcement is manufactured using a standard pultrusion process or
alternatively a...
Biaxial strength characteristics of wood-based structural panels were evaluated by
using analytical and experimental methods. Cruciform plywood specimens were tested
under biaxial tensile-tensile, compressive-compressive loadings in a symmetrically-jointed-
arm test fixture, which was mounted on a universal testing machine. Performance
of the test fixture was also evaluated during the tests....
The light-frame wood structure is an assemblage of
several components such as walls, floors and roof connected
by intercomponent connections such as nails or metal plates.
The behavior of the full-structure is determined by the
behavior of the individual components and connections.
Whereas individual substructures were investigated both
experimentally and...
Service life prediction models for light-framed wood structures require an extensive quantity of empirical data on deterioration pathologies for the numerous structural components, as well as mechanistic approaches to determine their capacity at various levels of deterioration. The data and models presented in this study satisfy a portion of the...
