Shake Table Testing of A Full-Scale 10-Story Mass-Timber Building Happening Soon

Dear LinkedIn Reader:

As the globe's population increases, building up, not out, makes more and more sense. And if we're building more tall buildings then our hope is that as much of the building?is made from wood?as possible. Fortunately mass timber is proving its mettle as a building material we can count on to shape the skylines of cities around the world.?

In next efforts to keep pushing wood buildings ever taller, a full-scale 10-story mass-timber building is being constructed on the world's largest shake table in preparation for a live test scheduled for late 2022 or early 2023. This will be the world's tallest full-scale building ever tested in this manner.?The National Science Foundation (NSF) ’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure Program (NHERI) is developing a seismic design methodology for tall #masstimber buildings and is specifically investigating?post-tensioned #crosslaminatedtimber (CLT) rocking walls?as a seismic resilient lateral system.?

Might this project be the?James Webb telescope-equivalent of tall wood building research? (I'll let the much smarter folks like Shiling Pei at Colorado School of Mines and other project researchers tell me if my comparison is apt or not.) In the meantime, you can watch three live video cameras?at this link ?to view the construction progress at your leisure. Many of the collaborators on this project are FBN and?International Mass Timber Conference ?partners. We will keep you updated on any new developments as the test structure is being built.?

Are there any other wood nerds out there who get excited about a 10-story shake table test like I do?

Craig Rawlings - President & CEO - Forest Business Network