ABSTRACT
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements are used in multi-story buildings as wall and floor panels. In terms of shear strength and stiffness, CLT has high structural performance. The challenge with tall CLT buildings is to ensure structural stability. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the structural performance of CLT buildings, meaning the strength and stiffness to resist horizontal loads. An eight story “pure” CLT residential building from Norway is used as a case study. CLT shear walls are the support system of the building and transfer lateral loads to the foundation. The paper presents the evaluation of characteristics that affect the structural performance, i.e., mass of wood, meter of shear wall, mass of steel used for connections and the appearance of redundant wall configurations. Results from the case study highlights the importance of system redundancy, resulting from the wall configurations and the panel-to-panel connections, which requires further study.
