Dynamic Characterization of a Full-Scale Three-Story Mass Timber Building Structure

Abstract

A veneer-based engineered wood product known as Mass Ply Panels (MPP) was recently introduced and certified per ANSI-PRG 320. A full-scale three-story mass timber building structure was constructed and tested at Oregon State University to demonstrate the potential of MPP in the design of resilient, structural lateral force-resisting systems. The building structure comprised MPP diaphragms, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams and columns, and an MPP rocking wall design. Two opportunistic vibration tests were performed to charac-terize the dynamic properties of the structure. First, an implosion of a stadium within 600 m of the building location was used as the main excitation source, during which bi-directional horizontal acceleration data were collected for approximately 18 seconds. Second, an ambient vibration test was conducted to collect horizontal acceleration data for one hour. In both tests, sixteen accelerometers were used to measure the response of the structure. Modal features were extracted using an output-only method and compared with the estimates from a finite element model. Lessons learned can be used to inform future modeling efforts of a mass timber building to be tested on the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Experimental Facility at the University of California San Diego high-performance outdoor shake table.