ENCI 427 Timber Structures

Assignment 1: Multi-Storey Timber Building Design

(Group Project)

A four-storey timber office building will be constructed in Christchurch City. The client has requested that a minimum
number of internal walls be provided to maximize the floor layout. A conceptual scheme for the building has been provided
in Figs 1, 2, 3 and 4.

 The plan size is approximately 18m x 24m.

 Story height is 3.2m;
 Timber-only floors are proposed now (We will design the floor with Timber-concrete composite in the last
assignment in Term Two).
 Lateral load resistance is provided by four timber moment resisting frames along the N-S direction with 3 internal
bays, and four exterior plywood shear walls (Wall dimensions 3600mm x 315mm) along the E-W direction.
 The building structure is symmetrically designed along both N-S and E-W directions. For simplicity, no torsional
effect is considered in this assignment.

a) Design of a Timber-only Floor System

Design live load for offices is 3.0 kPa.

Option 1: 21 mm thick plywood panels can be used as flooring supported by floor I joists.
Option 2: Alternatively, solid glulam/CLT floors can be used.
Design the floor system to satisfy both ULS and SLS criteria (consider both short-term deflection and long-term
deflections).
Draw a simple 2D sketch of the floor system

b) Calculate Wind Loads and Seismic Loads

Roughly calculate the wind loads using AS/NZS 1170.2. Make assumptions to keep it simple.
Calculate the building weight at each floor level including flooring, floor joists/beams, columns and plywood walls
with sizes as shown.
Add a superimposed dead load of 0.5 kPa on each floor.
Assume exterior cladding on all walls weighs 0.5 kPa.
Assume that all three floors and the roof have the same weight (i.e. the roof is a heavy-weight roof which could have a
light-weight penthouse added in the future, but not included now).
Calculate the seismic base shear for force-based design using NZS 1170.5
Assume that building is in Christchurch on Soil Type D.
Note that the Hazard Factor, Z, for Christchurch has increased to 0.3
Assume a natural period of 0.5s
Assume a Ductility of μ = 3
Compare wind and seismic loads and find out which one governs.
Use an appropriate distribution of the seismic base shear to determine the design moments in the moment frame and
shear forces in the plywood walls (Ignore the gravity loads for the frame structure for simplicity)

c) Detailed Design of Plywood Shear walls

Design plywood shear walls to resist the east-west lateral loads. Start with the 4 walls shown and modify the length of
the walls as necessary. As the client has requested the building be mainly constructed using timber, use timber members
to resist the chord forces.
Calculate deflection of wall and compare against the limits prescribed in NZS1170.5
Provide detailed sketches of the wall with a detail for connecting the floor diaphragm
d) Detailed Design of Moment Frames

Design the moment-resisting frames using three different beam-column connection techniques: – 1) nailed steel gusset
plates, 2) bolted connections with slotted plates, and 3) epoxied steel rods.

Fig. 1 3D building view

6m

N
6m

6m

8m 8m 8m

Fig. 2 Plan View

 Plywood shear walls 3.2 m

3.2 m

3.2 m

3.2 m

8m 8m 8m

Fig. 3 Front elevation (beam, column and plywood shear walls)

3.2 m

3.2 m

3.2 m

3.2 m

6m 6m 6m

Fig. 4 Side Elevation (moment resisting frame)