ALTERNATIVE SEISMIC DESIGN OF MULTI-STOREY TIMBER STRUCTURES

Research on the structural response of large, multi-story timber buildings under horizontal loading conditions, such as wind and earthquakes, remains limited in the current literature. In particular, there is a need for improved understanding of the nonlinear behavior of these structures and how energy dissipation mechanisms influence their seismic performance. This study focuses on nonlinear time history analysis of multi-storey timber buildings, emphasizing the role re-centering mechanism in the seismic response. A set of 3D timber building configurations was designed according to Eurocode force-based design principles and subsequently evaluated using nonlinear dynamic simulations. The results show that the early stage design choices, such as how the vertical load will be distributed, whether the CLT walls will contribute to that or not, and whether a self-centering mechanism will be used, can fundamentally change the overall seismic behavior of the structure in the non-linear phase. Key insights are summarized regarding the weight acting on the CLT walls in relation to two common hold-down response mechanisms, elastic-perfectly-plastic self-centering.