2016 SEAOC CONVENTION

The Heavy Timber Buckling-Restrained Braced Frame

as a Solution for Commercial Construction for
Regions of High Seismicity
Hans-Erik Blomgren, PE, SE
Arup
Jan-Peter Koppitz, PE, Associate (Arup)
Abel Diaz Valdes, PE, SE

Abstract
Designing code-based commercial multi-story buildings in seismic regions of the United States inevitably means
steel or concrete construction as of today, in the absence of a codified lateral system in wood providing reasonable
ductility and height limits. This paper presents a new concept of seismic force resisting system, known as the Heavy
Timber Buckling Restrained Braced Frame (HT-BRBF). The system is intended for general application in
commercial construction including the recent advent of high-rise mass-timber buildings. The system is inspired by
the unbonded brace technology today widely spread throughout Japan and the United States.
Before addressing the system level ductility, a reliable ductile brace component capable of sustaining multiple
cycles of seismic excitation was needed. For this purpose a Heavy Timber Buckling Restrained Brace (HT-BRB)
was developed following the unbonded brace concept as well as the design philosophy based on a yielding fuse
connected to elastic capacity-protected components. The HT-BRB was designed consisting of 3 basic components: a
steel core for inelastic deformations, a composite glulam casing for buckling restraint, and an unbonded gap between
those two. At a component level, the testing performed at University of Utah exhibited the stable and symmetrical
hysteresis loops typical of an unbonded brace, which indicated a successful design of the composite glulam casing
acting as a buckling-restraint mechanism. Test results are discussed, and implementation at the system level in an
archetype building is addressed in order to assess overall system performance, constructability, and detailing. The
ongoing work of the Heavy Timber Buckling-Restrained Braced Frame project presented in this paper shows the
successful first steps towards the codification of a new lateral system in timber applicable in regions of high
seismicity.
This research has been made possible by funding grants from the Softwood Lumber Board.