The widespread availability of Cross-laminated timber (CLT) provides opportunities to extend the use of wood beyond traditional low-rise residential construction. Glued-in rods (GiR) are an interesting technical solution for numerous structural applications in timber engineering. Although GiR connections have the potential to be used in combination with CLT, research on this application is scarce. In this thesis, an experimental investigation on the performance of GiR in CLT is presented. Two different 5-ply CLT panel thicknesses (139 and 175 mm), two steel rod diameters (d = 12.7 and 19.1 mm) and five different anchorage lengths (la = 6d, 10d, 12d, 14d and 18d) were considered in single and multiple rod connections. A total of 260 specimens were fabricated and subsequently tested under uni-axial quasi-static monotonic tension. The results were assessed in terms of load-carrying capacity, stiffness and failure modes and demonstrated that GiR in CLT offer an alternative high capacity timber connection.
A proposed hybrid lateral load resisting system combining a moderately ductile steel moment resisting frame (SMRF) with Cross-laminated Timber (CLT) balloon-framed shear walls is investigated on 8, 12 and 16-storey case-study buildings using equivalent static, linear dynamic (modal), nonlinear static (push-over) and nonlinear dynamic (time history) analyses. First, a SMRF is designed using ETABS, then the hybrid structures are analysed in OpenSees. By adding the CLT shear wall to steel moment frame, the period of structure decreased and its stiffness increased. The time history analyses result revealed that by adding the CLT shear wall the maximum drift decreased, while the maximum base shear in hybrid structure slightly increased. The hold down uplift forces under earthquake records are reported and compared to each other. Using push-over capacity-curves, a ductility reduction factor of 3.6, an over strength factor of 1.57 and a seismic response modification factor of 5.67 are derived.
