Experimental Seismic Response of a Full-Scale Six-Story Light-Frame Wood Building

TLDR

The study aimed to validate the NEESWood performance‑based seismic design procedure on a full‑scale light‑frame wood building and to enhance understanding of midrise wood building response to major earthquakes, providing a benchmark data set. A 6‑story, 1,350 m² light‑frame wood apartment building was subjected to three simulated earthquakes (72‑year to 2,500‑year Los Angeles intensity) on the world’s largest shake table, with detailed measurements of base shears, wall and interstory drifts, accelerations, hold‑down forces, roof drifts, and post‑test damage inspections. The building exhibited excellent performance, sustaining minimal damage, with a roof drift of about 0.25 m, average interstory drifts near 2%, and peak wall drifts just over 3%.

Abstract

In July 2009, a full-scale midrise light-frame wood apartment building was subjected to a series of earthquakes at the world’s largest shake table in Miki, Japan. This article focuses on the test results of that full-scale six-story light-frame wood building. The objectives of the testing program were to (1) demonstrate that the performance-based seismic design procedure developed as part of the NEESWood project worked on the full-scale building, i.e., validate the design philosophy to the extent one test can and (2) gain a better understanding of how midrise light-frame wood buildings respond, in general, to a major earthquake while providing a landmark data set to the seismic engineering research community. The building consisted of 1,350 m2 (14,000 ft2) of living space and had 23 apartment units; approximately one-half one-bedroom units and one-half two-bedroom units. The building was subjected to three earthquakes ranging from seismic intensities corresponding to the 72-year event to the 2,500-year event for Los Angeles. In this paper, the construction of the NEESWood Capstone Building is explained and the resulting seismic response in terms of base shears, selected wall drifts, global interstory drifts, accelerations, hold-down forces, and roof drifts are presented. Detailed damage inspection was performed following each test and those results are summarized also. The building performed excellently with little damage even following the 2,500-year earthquake. The global drift at roof level was approximately 0.25 m and maximum interstory drifts were approximately 2% for the floor average with individual wall drifts reaching just over 3% in one corner of the building at the fifth story.