Testing

NHERI Tall Wood Project

Partners

Colorado School of Mines
Colorado State University
FPInnovations
Katerra
Lehigh University
PTL Consultants
University of Nevada
University of Washington
USDA Forest Products Laboratory
Washington State University

The goal of this National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded four-year research project is to validate a resilient-based seismic design methodology for tall wood buildings. Prior research has shown that wood structures, when designed properly, have the potential to be more resilient than existing minimal design code requirements due to wood’s relative light weight and flexibility. These unique properties create the possibility for timber structures to not only be safe during an earthquake, but also to sustain less damage, which in turn allows wood structures to be reoccupied quickly after a seismic event.

As a project collaborator, LEVER designed multiple wood archetypes in partnership with KPFF Consulting Engineers. These archetypes provide a basis-of-design for six-story, 12-story, and 20-story resilient wood structures. A 10-story version of the archetype is planned to undergo full-scale seismic testing on an outdoor shake table facility at the NSF-funded NHERI experimental site at University of California, San Diego. This 10-story structure will be the world’s tallest full-scale wood building to be tested for seismic performance.

For more information please visit http://nheritallwood.mines.edu