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Experimental investigation of connection for the FFTT, a timber-steel hybrid system

University of British Columbia

Hybrid systems have grown in popularity over the past years but the lack of established design guidelines has delayed the construction of the hybrid structures. This thesis fills the existing knowledge gap between detailed design and global behaviour of hybrid systems through an experimental study on an innovative timber-steel hybrid system called “FFTT”. The FFTT system relies on wall panels of mass timber such as CLT for gravity and lateral load resistance and embedded steel sections for ductility under the earthquake loads. An important step towards the practical application of the FFTT system is obtaining the proof that the connections facilitate the desired ductile failure mode. The experimental investigation was carried out at the facility of FPInnovations, Vancouver. The testing program consisted of quasi-static monotonic and reverse cyclic tests on the timber-steel hybrid system with different configurations. The two beam profiles, wide flange I-sections and hollow rectangular sections were tested. The interaction between the steel beams and CLT panels and the effect of the embedment depth, cross-section reduction and embedment length were closely examined. The study demonstrated that when using an appropriate steel section, the desired ‘Strong Column –Weak Beam’ failure mechanism was initiated and excessive wood crushing was avoided. While wide-flange I-sections were stiffer and stronger, the hollow sections displayed better post-yield behaviour with higher energy dissipation capacity through several cycles of deformation under cyclic loads. The out-of-plane buckling at the point of yielding was the major setback of the embedment of wide-flange I-sections. This research served as a precursor for providing design guidance for the FFTT system as one option for tall wood buildings in high seismic regions.

Text

2013-08-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44968

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/