Departments/Research

By Angela Liu, BRANZ Senior Structural Engineer

Specific bracing
design
Changes are needed after houses with a mixture of NZS 3604:2011 wall
bracing and specifically designed bracing performed poorly during the
Canterbury earthquakes. BRANZ’s new design procedure for seismic
bracing elements in new houses will help.

MOST RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS in New Zealand

are light timber-framed buildings constructed
according to NZS 3604:2011 Timber-framed
buildings. This standard is also cited as an
Acceptable Solution to New Zealand Building
Code clause B1 Structure.

NZS 3604 gives bracing demand

In NZS 3604:2011, the seismic demand is
determined from a predefined table, based
on the soil classification, seismic hazard zone,
house foundation type and building envelope
weight.
Designers only need to match the
bracing demand to the capacity provided.
NZS 3604:2011 specifies using the P21 test
developed by BRANZ to evaluate the seismic
bracing capacity of proprietary light timber-
framed wall elements.
However, NZS 3604:2011 has limitations on
application, and many new timber-framed
houses require specifically designed bracing
elements, especially those with open-plan More earthquake damage was found in timber-framed Canterbury
houses with a mix of specific and non-specific seismic bracing design.
design.

Build 147 — April/May 2015 — 75

Mixed bracing caused issues in Canterbury
So how did timber-framed houses perform
during the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010
and 2011?
Earthquake-damaged timber-framed
houses of all ages did meet the current
New Zealand Building Code objective of
‘safeguarding people from injury caused by
structural failure’. The damage, however,
was sometimes significant.
Interestingly, the magnitude of seismic
damage varied significantly. It was exacer-
bated by mixing sheathed timber-framed
wall bracing elements (such as gypsum
plasterboard) with specifically designed
bracing systems (such as steel portal frames
or specifically designed plywood walls). Less
damage was found on timber-framed houses
braced totally by sheet materials.
Stiffness incompatibilities bet ween
different types of bracing is thought to be
the most likely cause of this variability.
Elements need to be compatible
Excluding the effects of liquefaction, earth-
quake damage to timber-framed houses
was due to differential lateral deformations
between either different levels or different
sections within a building.
Differential deformations between two
levels of a building depend on the stiffness of
the bracing elements. This is often quantified
using interstorey drift which is the ratio of
the lateral deflection between two levels and
the storey height.
Differential deformations bet ween
different sections of the buildings occur as
a result of deformation incompatibility of the
bracing elements over these areas.
Therefore, the stiffness performance
of spec­­ifically designed bracing elements
should be satis­factory for storey drift and
also be compatible with the conventional NZS
3604:2011 plasterboard-lined timber-framed
wall bracing elements in the same storey.
76 — April/May 2015 — Build 147
Seismic bracing performance investigated
BRANZ examined the expected performance
of conventional light timber-framed houses
with the minimum seismic bracing required
by NZS 3604:2011. This research used typical
P21 rating test results of plasterboard-lined
light timber-framed walls.
Having this information means specifi-
cally designed bracing systems can be
chosen to have compatible deformation
performance with the NZS 3604:2011 wall
bracing systems.
The research did not allow for the adverse
effect of an irregular bracing arrangement.
The displacement-based approach was
followed and assumed a damping level (an
indicator of energy-dissipating capacity)
of 20%. The damping level was based on
several P21 test results on plasterboard-
sheathed light timber-framed walls.
Findings of flexibility and stiffness
The project had several key findings:
●● Theory suggests light timber-framed
houses with the minimum seismic bracing
required by NZS 3604:2011 are likely to
be flexible. They can deflect beyond the
Building Code-specified deflection limit
of 2.5% storey drift in an ultimate limit
state earthquake event.
●● However, there is often unquantified
stiffening potential in simple and tradi-
tional light timber-framed houses that
can significantly boost their stiffness.
Examples include coupling actions due
to lintel beams over doors and windows,
panels beneath windows and more
available wall length than specified for
bracing. However, these types of stiff-
ening effects cannot be guaranteed.
●● Where specific bracing elements (such
as steel portals) are required in a mainly
light timber-framed house, they often
have no significant stiffening potential.
The performance criterion for designing
specific bracing elements needs to include
damage control.
Walls weaker after 1% storey drift
The stiffness performance criterion for
specifically designed seismic bracing
elements was based on the observed
stiffness behaviour of timber-framed wall
bracing elements during P21 tests.
Typical P21 test results show that conven-
tional timber-framed bracing walls of reason-
able lengths undergo strength degradation
after a storey drift of about 1%. The walls
are also significantly softer after racking to
1% storey drift.
Consequently, the stiffness performance
requirements for specifically engineered
bracing were established to be 1% storey drift
under the ultimate limit state.
Seismic design action at ULS defined
The research showed that to satisfy the
deflection compatibility, the seismic design
action at ultimate limit state of specifically
designed bracing should be twice the
seismic bracing demands required in NZS
3604:2011.
New seismic design guidance
BRANZ has developed a step-by-step seismic
design procedure for specifically designed
seismic bracing elements in houses with
mainly NZS 3604:2011 bracing elements.
It can be used where there is a mix of
specifically designed bracing and conven-
tional NZS 3604:2011 sheathed timber-framed
wall bracing.
This will be available shortly in a BRANZ
study report – Design guidance of specifically
designed bracing systems in light timber
framed residential buildings – from www.
branz.co.nz.
Note EQC funded this BRANZ project to
improve our housing stock and increase
community resilience to earthquakes.