Investigación y Cambios para Permitir Edificios de Madera de 18 Pisos en Regiones de

Alta Sísmica
(Research and Changes to Allow 18-story Timber Buildings in High-Seismic Regions)
J. D. Dolan (1)

(1) Ph.D., jddolan@wsu.edu

Abstract
Research that was used to support the building code changes in the United States to allow mass timber buildings to be
designed and constructed in regional with high seismic risk is highlighted. Research concerning the fire resistance of mass
timber was necessary to change the requirements that impose that all buildings taller than 25m be constructed with non-
combustible structural systems. The only way tall mass timber buildings could be designed for seismic applications is if
combustible materials (wood) could be used for the structural system. The focus then is shifted to the structural research
into the performance of mass timber when subjected to cyclic and earthquake loadings. Completed and current research
into the seismic design parameters, performance-based design, and resiliency are highlighted. One large 4-year research
project to develop and test a 10-story full-scale resilient building on the University of California – San Diego shake table is
presented.
Keywords: Mass Timber, Cross-Laminated Timber, Fire, Seismic, Tall Buildings
XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

1 Introduction
Historically, timber has been the main structural system used in constructing buildings up to 10-12
stories in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Then during the 20th century a series of devastating
fires resulted in a move to use non-combustible materials such as concrete, steel and masonry for
large buildings and timber construction was restricted to building heights that were no higher than
the height that firefighting equipment could reach to fight the fire from outside of the building. This
resulted in a maximum height of building of approximately 20 m (or about 6 stories). At this height,
light-frame timber construction was more than capable of resisting the forces associated with gravity,
wind, and seismic loadings and more economical to construct than mass timber. Therefore, research
in timber construction typically focused on improving the detailing and force transfer between light-
frame elements and overall structural safety.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, in response to the drive for more environmentally friendly
construction, mass timber construction again began to be thought of for mid-rise buildings that were
6-20 stories tall. There was significant resistance to this from the standpoint of public safety. First
from the standpoint of fire control, and then from the standpoint of seismic resistance. In an effort to
promote timber construction, provide an economic boost to a significant economic sector, and
address the concern about fire performance, the Austrian and German governments funded the
development of a new product called cross-laminated timber (CLT). This product is often called
plywood manufactured from lumber. A schematic illustrating the concept is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 – Schematic view of concept of cross-laminated timber [1][2].

The introduction of CLT into the market place has resulted in a significant change in the choice of
materials for buildings in the mid-rise (6-20 stories) buildings. The combination of CLT with glued-
laminated beams and columns has introduced a new structural system call mass timber. In Europe,
the acceptance of CLT and mass timber was very fast, and a number of buildings have been
constructed, with the tallest timber building (18-story 85.4m) currently being in Norway. However,
most of the tall wood buildings have been constructed in regions with low seismic risk. Regions of the
world with high seismic risk have been more reluctant to adopt mass timber due to the perceived
non-ductile behavior of timber.

This paper describes some of the research that has been conducted or is currently being conducted to
develop acceptable structural systems for mass timber to be used in mid-rise buildings (6-20 stories).
An overview of the fire performance and then the lateral force resistance are covered.

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2 Fire performance of mass timber

After large fires such as the great Chicago fire in 1871 and the one after the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake, many governments around the world began to restrict the height to which timber
construction could be used. By the middle of the 1900s, most countries had restricted timber
construction to the height which the fire could be fought with typical hook and ladder trucks from the
outside of the building, which is around 25m. Consideration for the differences between light-frame
and mass timber construction was not part of the discussion and all wood construction was
considered to be equivalent to light-frame construction. However, the differences between these
two types of construction are very large due to the cross-section of the typical members used.

Light-frame timber construction consists of a repetitive system of small cross-section columns and
beams that are sheathed with an engineered composite panel such as plywood or oriented
strandboard (OSB). A typical timber light-frame building under construction is shown in Fig. 2(a). The
light-frame system relies on dimensional lumber framing (38mm thickness) spaced no more than
610mm apart and the system is tied together by the composite panel that is nailed to the framing.
The vertical loads are resisted by the framing and the lateral loads are resisted by the sheathing. This
system has been shown through experimental and numerical simulation research, and historic
performance in earthquakes, to be a very good system if constructed properly. The reason for this
good performance is the light weight of the material, the repetitive nature of the load path, and the
ductility associated with the highly distributed nails. Fire is controlled through compartmentalization
using gypsum panels and the platform system provides inherent fire stops between rooms and floors.

(a) (b)
Fig. 2 – Typical timber building construction. (a) timber light-frame, (b) mass timber with CLT [3][4].

Mass timber construction consists of large cross-section beams, columns, and panels that result in a
structural system that resembles reinforced concrete or hot-rolled steel construction more than the
traditional timber light-frame construction. This system, which is illustrated in Fig. 2(b), is much less
redundant, and therefore, is much faster to construct. For a typical inner-city office building
constructed using mass timber, a typical construction rate example would be the Brock Commons
building in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. This building has a gross area of 15,115m2 and is 18-stories tall
(54m), and is shown in Fig. 3. The timber portion of the building, which consisted of the columns,
beams, floors and roof, was constructed in 70 days after the concrete foundation and elevator cores
were completed.

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XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

Fig. 3 – 18-story mass timber building, Brock Commons. [5]

Historically, it was recognized that mass timber had good to excellent fire performance. Testing of
light-frame construction in fire has been extensive and current methods of using gypsum sheathing
can provide fire performance for up to 3 hours. A small fire test on light-frame timber construction is
shown in Fig. 4a. The issue of significant lowering of the MOE in steel and spawlling of concrete is
illustrated in Fig. 4(b). However, while glued-laminated timber construction has been recognized as
having good to excellent performance, CLT needed to be tested since it was a new product. A fire test
for mass timber is shown in Fig. 4c. Fire tests on mass timber have been conducted by several
countries, including Sweden [7], Italy [8], Canada [9], and the United States [10].

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4 – Fire tests of timber construction and post-fire performance (a) light-frame [5], (b) post-fire
photo of timber, steel and concrete, (c) mass-timber [6]

In this paper, the term mid-rise is being used to describe buildings that are 6-20 stories tall. In the
United States building code, the International Building Code [11], buildings taller than 22.5 m are
considered to be high-rise buildings due to the fire provisions in the code. Changes that were
approved for this building code have changed the restrictions on the height of buildings that can be
constructed with timber. If the structural system is light-frame construction, the height is still
restricted to 25 m. If the structural system is mass timber with the minimum cross-sectional
dimension of the timber being 120 mm or greater, the new restriction is 18-stories, which would be
54 m if the story height were 3 m. The changes will become effective for the entire country in 2021
[12], but many states such as Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and California are adopting the
changes through special legislation to allow construction earlier than 2021. Depending on the height
of the building, the timber may have to be encapsulated in gypsum or an equivalent fire-resistant
material to compartmentalize the fire for up to 3 hours.

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XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

3 Seismic performance of timber buildings

The historical good seismic performance of timber buildings has been due to 1) their relatively high
strength-to-weight ratio, 2) their redundancy, and 3) their configurations being larger in the
horizontal dimension than in their height (aspect (height/width) ratio  1). Historical reports from
earthquake events have consistently shown that timber buildings that are configured to eliminate
torsional and vertical irregularities perform better than other types of construction [13][14][15].
However, the new mass timber buildings have aspect ratios of around 5-7, and the buildings are not
nearly as redundant in the structural load path as light-frame construction. Therefore, new research
is being conducted to provide solutions to the structural requirements associated with seismic loads.
This research can be divided into three categories: 1) low-rise platform construction with equivalent
linear force (ELF) method design, 2) performance-based design, and 3) resiliency.

Low-rise construction with ELF:

The initial response for the inclusion of mass timber into the design process in Canada and the United
States was to focus on 1-3 story buildings in Canada and 1-6 story buildings in the United States. Both
countries initially focused on the ELF method for determining the forces and the use of the platform
structural system configuration. Canada was the first to provide designers with guidance on what the
structural response modification factor should be (R=4). The United States requires that new
structural systems be subjected to a new analysis process call FEMA P-695 [16] to determine the
seismic design parameters. This is a detailed process that requires significant physical testing of
components, and possibly 3D building specimens, and thousands of non-linear finite element analyses
to develop a statistical basis for the collapse probability for the structural system. The analysis is
almost complete, and the recommended R-factor will now be submitted for consideration to the
design standard committees. The dissertation that contains the testing and analysis results was
completed in the fall of 2018 [17]. The current proposal will be that the structural system will have
two different R-factors depending on the height of the building, with a maximum of 6-stories for
platform structural configurations. Some buildings are being designed and constructed using hybrid
building systems, where the lateral forces are resisted by concrete elevator and stair cores, while the
diaphragms and the gravity system are made of mass timber. The Brock Common building shown in
Fig. 3 is one of these buildings.

Performance-based design:
Performance-based design is not a new design method, but rather it has only recently been
standardized for structural design of buildings that either utilize new structural systems, are have
special configurations that result in the design not being able to meet the prescriptive design
requirements in the building code, or are so tall that they require special attention due to the
complexity of the design and are considered to be outside of the code scope. This type of design
process used to be called “alternative means and methods.” All mass timber buildings designed and
constructed in Canada and the United States to date have had to be designed following this
methodology. This process requires that design performance parameters be set by the design team in
conjunction with the building official and a peer review team. These parameters include allowable
drift, methods of validation for computer simulation of the building response, realistic consideration
of sources of non-linearity, and an agreed upon suite of earthquake records that will be used to
analyze the structure and is representative of the hazard source for the building site.

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XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

To support this type of design process, there are currently research projects that are focusing on
developing reliable methods for modeling the hysteresis response of typical connections [18][19],
models for new connectors for increased damping ability [20], and parametric analysis to provide
reliable and/or statistical-based analysis of the results [17][21][22].

Resiliency:
Resiliency is a new design objective in the United States. Historically, buildings were designed for a
life-safety performance target. However, due to the escalating costs associated with earthquake
damage, local and federal government agencies, and insurance companies have been pressuring the
building code and design standard committees to improve the overall performance of the building
design to reduce or eliminate costly damage and provide shorter time frames for re-occupying
buildings. Many countries are developing design standards with this improved performance focus in
mind, and many do it by simply reducing the allowable drift in the structure, since most of the
damage is directly related to displacements. In the United States, there are some individuals focusing
on reduced drift as a method of reducing damage, but the issue is that if the ELF method of design is
to be maintained, then the non-linear response of the structural elements must be maintained. If the
allowable structural drift is reduced to near linear response, then the value of the R-factor should be
significantly reduced as well.

Therefore, new structural systems are being developed and investigated, and the interaction between
the structural and non-structural components are directly considered. The largest project is funded
by the National Science Foundation and began in 2016. The project includes six universities, five
collaborating architecture, structural engineering, or mass timber supplier companies, the Canadian
forest products research company PFInnovations, the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory, and three
collaborating researchers from another university [23]. The project is looking at different wall
systems to provide the lateral force resisting system, while testing 2-story full-scale structural systems
under hybrid testing at Lehigh University. The tests include all of the typical non-structural elements
such as fire suppression, wall and ceiling finishes, etc. The objective of this phase of the test is to
develop connection systems that can sustain the 3D structural displacements with a minimal amount
of damage. The project will continue until early 2021 when a 10-story, full-scale building will be
tested on the outdoor 3D shake table at NHERI@UCSD. A diagram of the project is presented in Fig.
5.

A final research project focused at improved resiliency is a distributed structural isolation system [24].
This research project tested mass timber diaphragm segments with different friction coefficients in
the slip plane(s). A non-linear finite element analysis was then run to simulate a 10-story building
with structural isolation systems at the top of the first; first and second; and first, second and third
floors. The objective is to achieve similar responses in the building to that expected in a traditionally
base-isolated building, without the expense of discrete isolators, a mote, and special foundations. If
the slip could be limited to 2-5cm per slip plane, then traditional utility connections would work, and
the special discrete isolators could be eliminated.

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 XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

NSF Tall-Wood Project: A research project funded by

the National Science

Full Scale Shake Table Testing of A Ten-story

Foundation.
Design and test a full-scale
CLT Building
(Project to Validate Resilient Seismic
period 2016~2020) NHERI
10-story wood building on
the world’s largest outdoor
Design Methodology Objective: shake table at UC San Diego.
Develop and test-validate a seismic design methodology
for 8~20 story tall wood buildings so that they can
withstand large earthquakes with minimal damage.

Research Team

New Mass-timber
material (Cross
Laminated Timber)
enables building tall
with wood

Full-scale 10-story
building test at
NHERI@UCSD shake Collaboration Team
table (expected
Sustainable solid 2019~2020)
wood material; Fast
and environmental
friendly construction Components testing
process due to at NHERI@Lehigh
prefabrication Structural Lab
(expected 2017)
Fig. 5 – Flow chart for NSF project to test 10-story full-scale resilient building [23].

4 Conclusion
Significant progress is being made in changing mass timber into a viable structural system for use in
regions with high seismic risk. Recent changes to the International Building Code [11] allow mass
timber buildings, up to 18-stories, to be designed and constructed in regions with high seismic risk.
The research supporting these changes were covered and the scope of the research supports the changes
in the aspects of fire resistance, equivalent linear force method for determining seismic loads in low-
rise buildings, and research that supports the performance-based design process as well as resiliency in
design.

5 Acknowledgments
Some of the structural testing research project presented in this paper is supported by the National
Science Foundation through a number of collaborative awards including: CMMI 1636164, CMMI
1634204, CMMI 1635363, CMMI 1635227, CMMI 1635156, CMMI 1634628. The use of NHERI
experimental facility is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Natural Hazards Engineering
Research Infrastructure Program.

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XII Chilean Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering ACHISINA2019 Valdivia, April 3 to, 5, 2019

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