The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Evaluation of the structural performance of wood shear walls subjected to lateral loading and moisture cycling

Li, Jian; Beall, Francis C.; Mosalam, Khalid M.

UCB/EERC-2007/02, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 2007-10-03, PDF (7.46 MB)

The objectives of this study were to develop an experimental and analysis method, combined with modern non-destructive methods, to evaluate the structural performance of wood shear walls subjected to lateral loading and moisture cycling. Twenty-six 1.2- by 1.2-m wood shear assemblies with different configurations and moisture cycling under monotonic, cyclic (CUREE) and non-reversal loading protocols were tested. The overall structural performances of small-scale wood shear assemblies were evaluated comprehensively through statistical analysis. Different single wood-nail connections were tested combined with acoustic emission (AE) monitoring and X-ray density scanning in order to obtain fundamental information. The AE method successfully monitored the damage accumulation of both wood shear assemblies and wood-nail connections. The overall performances of wood shear walls were reasonably predicted by the wood analysis program, CASHEW. A nonlinear beam element representing single wood-nail connection was developed to improve the finite element analysis, which is capable of assessing local deformation in detail and deals with complex load situations. Testing and analysis both show a consistent scale-ratio effect.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-07-02.pdf (5 MB)