Development and Testing of Innovative Earthquake-Resistant Systems for Hybrid Wood-Steel Structures

本研究项目的目标是为木结构开发新颖和创新的高性能抗震系统。这将通过设计新的混合木-钢结构形式来实现，这种结构形式利用了木材的高强度重量比、可持续性和美学价值，以及先进钢被动阻尼系统的优异抗震性能。大多数人最熟悉的木质建筑类型是住宅。这是一个轻型框架结构，由木墙组成，由钉在木材钉上的胶合板护套组成。最近，欧洲和北美开始推动更多地用木材建造不同类型的结构。例如，不列颠哥伦比亚省的“木材优先”倡议规定，如果可能的话，所有新的政府结构都必须用木材建造。为了充分满足这一需求，需要进行新的研究，以确定如何最好地建造更大更高的结构。这些较大的结构通常使用重型木梁、木柱和/或实木墙来建造，而不是使用轻型框架施工方法。在设计这些更大和更高的木结构建筑时，最重要的挑战之一是确定如何正确地设计它们以抵抗地震。由于木材是一种脆性材料，木结构通常依靠钢螺栓或钉子的弯曲和变形来适应地震引起的剧烈震动。这种设计方法往往会对木质建筑构件造成重大损害。该研究项目将研究如何通过使用特殊设计的钢构件来限制木材构件的载荷，并在地震期间从结构中消散能量，从而防止木材构件的损坏。这些钢构件通过特殊的“自定心”机制来适应和抵抗地震荷载，这种机制提供了额外的好处，即它们在地震期间和地震后使结构恢复到完全直立的位置。这些类型的高性能抗震元件以前已广泛应用于钢和混凝土结构。该研究项目将开发将现有的高性能减震器和结构形式整合到木材环境中的方法，以提高木结构建筑的性能和竞争力。将开发和测试用于重型木结构框架的新交叉支撑连接，以防止木构件被损坏，同时允许引入自定心交叉支撑。全尺寸自定心梁柱连接，利用长钢预应力筋将适应木结构系统，并在实验室进行测试。此外，将设计、建模和测试允许在其基础和以上每一层上岩石的实心木墙。预计这一研究项目将提高木材在建造更大更高的住宅、商业和工业建筑中的竞争力，特别是在不列颠哥伦比亚省、魁北克省和安大略省东部的地震活跃地带。希望这将反过来使加拿大林业受益，从而使整个加拿大经济和社会受益。

The objective this research program is to develop novel and innovative high-performance earthquake-resistant systems for wood structures. This will be accomplished through the design of new hybrid wood-steel structural forms, which take advantage of the high strength-to-weight ratio, sustainability, and aesthetic value of wood, and the excellent earthquake performance of advanced steel passive damping systems. The type of wood building that most people are most familiar with is a residential house. This is a light-frame structure made of wood walls which consist of plywood sheathing nailed to lumber studs. There has been a recent push in Europe and North America to start to build different types of structures out of wood more often. For example, the “Wood First” initiative in British Columbia mandates that all new government structures must be constructed out of wood if possible. To fully meet this need, new research is required to determine how to best build larger and taller structures. Instead of using light-frame construction methods, these larger structures are typically built using heavy timber beams and columns and/or solid wood walls. One of the most significant challenges in the design of these larger and taller buildings in timber is to determine how to properly design them to resist earthquakes. Since wood is a brittle material, wood structures often rely on the bending and deformation of steel bolts or nails to accommodate the severe shaking caused by earthquakes. This design method tends to result in significant damage to wood building elements. This research program will investigate ways to prevent damage in the wood members by using specially-designed steel elements to limit the loads in the wood members and to dissipate energy from the structure during an earthquake. These steel elements accommodate and resist the earthquake loads through the action of special “self-centering” mechanisms, which provide the added benefit that they return a structure to a fully upright position during and after an earthquake. These types of high-performance earthquake resistant elements have been previously applied widely in steel and concrete structures. This research program will develop ways to integrate existing high-performance earthquake dampers and structural forms into a wood context to increase the performance and competitiveness of wood buildings. New cross-brace connections for heavy timber frames will be developed and tested that are designed to prevent wood members from being damaged while permitting the introduction of self-centering cross-braces. Full-scale self-centering beam-to-column connections that utilize long steel pretensioned tendons will be adapted to wood frame systems and tested in the laboratory. In addition, solid timber walls which are allowed to rock at their foundation and at every level above will be designed, modelled and tested. It is anticipated that this research program will increase the competitiveness of wood for use in the construction of larger and taller residential, commercial and industrial structures, especially in seismically active zones in British Columbia, Quebec and Eastern Ontario. Hopefully, this will, in turn, benefit the Canadian forestry industry and, therefore, the Canadian economy and society at large.