Influence of Perpendicular Walls on the Lateral Stiffness of CLT Shear Walls

Abstract

Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) walls are used in CLT buildings to carry both vertical and horizontal loads. The mechanical behaviour of CLT shear walls for lateral loads is typically assumed to be governed from the base connections, which transfer the horizontal loads from the upper storeys to the foundations. However, in a CLT building, other connection typologies, such as the connection between shear walls and perpendicular walls, can contribute to the mechanical performances of the CLT shear walls. This paper presents a study on the effects of the perpendicular walls on the lateral stiffness of Cross-Laminated Timber shear walls. An analytical model for the calculation of the lateral stiffness of CLT shear walls connected at the base with typical hold-downs and angle brackets and to perpendicular walls by means of wall-to-wall connections is presented. The analytical model is compared with different models taken from the literature and validated against a numerical model developed in SAP2000. The analytical model is used to perform a parametric study in which the geometry and the connections are varied while different assumptions on the mechanical behaviour of the perpendicular walls are considered. Results of the parametric analyses showed that the perpendicular walls increase the lateral stiffness of CLT shear walls. The increase of lateral stiffness depends on the stiffness of the wall-to-wall connections, position and assumption on the behaviour of the perpendicular walls. Results of this study represent a basis for future studies in which the contribution of the perpendicular walls is investigated at building level. COMPDYN 2021 8 th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering M. Papadrakakis, M. Fragiadakis (eds.