Cross-laminated timber (CLT) possesses both good shape stability and possible two-way force transfer ability due to its crosswise lamination. However, the transverse layers in CLT are prone to rolling shear failure under an out-of-plane load. An innovative multi-layer composite laminated panel (CLP) was developed by combining structural composite lumber (SCL) and dimension lumber to overcome the rolling shear failure while maintaining the high mechanical performance and aesthetic appearance of natural wood. The mechanical properties of 5-layer CLP that consisted of laminated strand lumber (LSL) and dimension lumber with different layups were evaluated by both static and modal tests. The results showed that the shear resistance, bending stiffness, and moment resistance of CLP were up to 143%, 43%, and 87% higher than their counterparts of regular CLT, respectively. The failure modes observed in both shear and bending tests indicated that the use of LSL in transverse layers could eliminate the potential rolling shear failure in CLT. With the lamination properties from components tests as inputs, the validity of shear analogy method was assessed by test results. The mechanical properties can be well predicted by shear analogy method except for the bending moment resistance of CLP and CLT with either rolling failure in the cross layer or tension failure in the bottom layer.

In northern Canada where permafrost is prevalent, a persistent shortage of accessible, affordable, and high-quality housing has been ongoing for decades. The design of foundations in permafrost presents unique engineering challenges due to permafrost soil mechanics and the effects of climate change. There is no specific design code for pile or shallow foundations in northern Canada. Consequently, the design process heavily relies on the experience of Arctic engineers. To clearly document the current practice and provide guidance to engineers or professionals, a comprehensive review of the practice in foundation design in the Arctic would be necessary. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the common foundations in permafrost and the geotechnical considerations adopted for building on frozen soils. This study conducted a review of current practices in deep and shallow foundations used in northern Canada. The review summarized the current methods for estimating key factors, including the adfreeze strength, creep settlement, and frost heave, used in foundation design in permafrost. To understand the geotechnical considerations in foundation design, this study carried out interviews with several engineers or professionals experienced in designing foundations in permafrost; the findings and the interviewees’ opinions were summarized. Lastly, in order to demonstrate the design methods obtained from the interviews and review, the paper presents two design examples where screw piles and steel pipe piles were designed to support a residential building in northern Canada, according to the current principles for adfreeze strength, long term creep settlement, and frost heave. The permafrost was assumed to be at −1.5 °C, and the design life span was assumed to be 50 years. The design examples suggested that for an axial load of 75 kN, a 12-m-long steel pipe pile or a 7-m-long screw pile would be needed.

Over the last few decades, there has been growing interest in the use of low‐carbon materials to reduce the environmental impacts of the construction industry. The advent of mass timber panels (MTP), such as cross laminated timber (CLT), has allowed structural engineers to specify a low‐carbon material for a variety of floor design considerations. However, serviceability issues such as vibration and deflection are limiting the construction of longer span timber‐only floor systems and have encouraged the development of timber‐concrete composite (TCC) systems. The use of concrete would negatively impact on the carbon footprint of the TCC floor system and should be minimized. The purpose of this study was to study the impact on embodied carbon in the TCC system, when the ratio of timber and concrete was varied for specific floor spans. Two MTP products were considered, CLT and glued laminated timber (GLT). The floors were designed to satisfy structural, acoustic, and vibration criteria, and the results were presented in the form of span tables. It was found that using thicker MTP instead of adding concrete thickness to meet a specific span requirement can lead to lower embodied carbon values. Increasing concrete thickness for long‐span floor systems led to a reduction in allowable floor span due to the vibration criterion being the controlling design parameter. Increasing timber thickness also resulted in higher strength and stiffness to weight ratios, which would contribute toward reducing the size of lateral load resisting systems and foundations, resulting in further reductions in the embodied carbon of the entire structure.

As global interest in using engineered wood products in tall buildings intensifies due to the ‘green’ credential of wood, it is expected that more tall wood buildings will be designed and constructed in the coming years. This, however, brings new challenges to the designers. One of the major challenges is how to design lateral load resisting systems with sufficient stiffness, strength and ductility to resist strong wind and earthquakes. In this study, a hybrid lateral load resisting system (LLRS) using mass timber on stiff podium was developed for high-rise buildings in accordance with capacity-based design principle. The LLRS consisted of shear walls and a shear core, both made of structural composite lumber, connected with dowel-type connections and heavy-duty HSK (wood-steel-composite) system. The wood-based panel-to-panel interface was designed to be the main energy dissipating mechanism of the system. This proposed system was implemented in the design of a hypothetical 20-storey building. A refined finite element model of the building was developed using general-purpose finite element software, ABAQUS. The wind-induced and seismic response of the building model was investigated by performing linear static and nonlinear dynamic analyses. The analysis results proved that the proposed LLRS using mass timber was suitable for high-rise buildings. This study provides a valuable insight into the structural performance of lateral load resisting system constructed with mass timber panels as a viable option to steel and concrete for high-rise buildings.

The lay-up of cross laminated timber (CLT) leads to significant differences in properties over its cross-section. Particularly the out-of-plane shear behavior of CLT is affected by the changes in shear moduli over the cross-section. Results from laboratory shear tests are used to evaluate the shear stiffness of 3- and 5-layer CLT panels in their major and minor strength direction. The results are compared to calculated shear stiffness values on evaluated single-layer properties as well as commonly used property ratios using the Timoshenko beam theory and the shear analogy method. Differences between the two calculation approaches are pointed out. The shear stiffness is highly sensitive to the ratio of the shear modulus parallel to the grain to the shear modulus perpendicular to the grain. The stiffness values determined from two test measurements are compared with the calculated results. The level of agreement is dependent on the number of layers in CLT and the property axis of the CLT panels.