Diaphragms are essential to transfer lateral forces in the plane of the diaphragms to supporting shear walls underneath. As the distribution of lateral force to shear walls is dependent on the relative stiffness/flexibility of diaphragm to the shear walls, it is critical to know the stiffness of both diaphragm and shear walls, so that appropriate lateral force applied on shear walls can be assigned.
In design, diaphragms can be treated as flexible, rigid or semi-rigid. For a diaphragm that is designated as flexible, the in-plane forces can be assumed to be distributed to the shear walls according to the tributary areas associated with each shear wall. For a diaphragm that is designated as rigid, the loads are assumed to be distributed according to the relative stiffness of the shear walls, with consideration of additional shear force due to torsion for seismic design. In reality, diaphragm is neither purely flexible nor completely rigid, and is more realistically to be treated as semi-rigid. In this case, computer analysis using either plate or diagonal strut elements can be used and the load-deflection properties of the diaphragm will result in force distribution somewhere between the flexible and rigid models. However, alternatively envelope approach which takes the highest forces from rigid and flexible assumptions can be used as a conservative estimation in lieu of computer analysis.
The wood products industry wants to expand its market share in non-residential buildings. This is a challenging goal because building codes exhibit a bias against the use of wood products, particularly in the construction of non-residential buildings. The move towards adoption of performance-based building codes offers the promise of eliminating such biases. However, in order to be prepared for the introduction of performance-based codes, architects, engineers and building code officials have pointed out the need for engineering tools to assess the fire performance of buildings.
This five-year project was initiated to develop fire-safety design tools for non-residential wood-frame buildings, and to foster development and delivery of educational programs to train students and practitioners in performance-based fire-safety design. In order to achieve these goals an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Fire Safety Engineering was established at Carleton University in March of 2001. This report summarises the progress towards these goals made by the Chair in the first two years of his tenure.
Utilizing Linear Dynamic Analysis (LDA) for designing steel and concrete structures has been common practice over the last 25 years. Once preliminary member sizes have been determined for either steel or concrete, building a model for LDA is generally easy as the member sizes and appropriate stiffness can be easily input into any analysis program. However, performing an LDA for a conventional wood-frame structure has been, until recently, essentially non-existent in practice. The biggest challenge is that the stiffness properties required to perform an LDA for a wood-based system are not as easily determined as they are for concrete or steel structures. This is mostly due to the complexities associated with determining the initial parameters required to perform the analysis.
With the height limit for combustible construction limited to four stories under the National Building Code of Canada, it was uncommon for designers to perform detailed analysis to determine the stiffness of shear walls, distribution of forces, deflections, and inter-storey drifts. It was only in rare situations where one may have opted to check building deflections. With the recent change in allowable building heights for combustible buildings from four to six storeys under an amendment to the 2006 BC Building Code, it has become even more important that designers consider more sophisticated methods for the analysis and design of wood-based shear walls. As height limits increase, engineers should also be more concerned with the assumptions made in determining the relative stiffness of walls, distribution of forces, deflections, and inter-storey drifts to ensure that a building is properly detailed to meet the minimum Code objectives.
Although the use of LDA has not been common practice, the more rigorous analysis, as demonstrated in the APEGBC bulletin on 5- and 6-storey wood-frame residential building projects (APEGBC 2011), could be considered the next step which allows one to perform an LDA. This fact sheet provides a method to assist designers who may want to consider an LDA for analyzing wood-frame structures. It is important to note that while LDA may provide useful information as well as streamline the design of wood-frame structures, it most often will not be necessary. However, designers may consider using LDA for the following reasons:
Consider the effect of higher mode participation on force distributions and deflections.
Better determine building deflections and floor drifts.
Allow for three-dimensional modelling.
Reduce the minimum Code torsional effect required under the equivalent static design.
Better consider the effect of podium structures (vertical changes in RdRo).
Compare the stiffness of various shear wall systems where mixed systems are used.
The 2009 edition of CSA Standard O86, Engineering Design in Wood (CSA 2009), provides an equation for determining the deflection of shear walls. It is important to note that this equation only works for a single-storey shear wall with load applied at the top of the wall. While the equation captures the shear and flexural deformations of the shear wall, it does not account for moment at the top of the wall and the cumulative effect due to rotation at the bottom of the wall, which would be expected in a multi-storey structure.
In this fact sheet, a mechanics-based method for calculating deflection of a multi-storey wood-based shear wall is presented.
