Lateral Load Analysis of Multi-Storey Light-Frame Wood Buildings through Detailed and Simplified Numerical Approaches
Abstract
Increasing global demand for a sustainable society is driving the development of multi-storey light-frame wood structures (LFWSs). A high-resolution finite element modelling (FEM) procedure for three-dimensional multi-storey LFWS buildings is developed. This tremendous effort is carried out to have a benchmark model that can be used for the validation of simpler models and for the assessment of the structural performance considering system effects. High-resolution FEM of all components of a building is not practical. A simplified FEM procedure is developed based on equal work principle. Verification of the accuracy of the high-resolution model is undertaken by comparing the natural frequencies predicted by the high-resolution model and a full-scale field measurement. Also, pushover curves obtained from both the simplified and the high-resolution building models are compared. It is demonstrated that the simplified FEM can predict accurately the behaviour of multi-storey single walls as well as an entire building with good accuracy compared to the high-resolution FEM.