22. High-Performance Composite-Reinforced Earthquake Resistant Buildings with Self-Aligning Capabilities

This paper describes the experimental procedures and presents preliminary results of the international project entitled “High- Performance Composite-Reinforced Earthquake Resistant Buildings with Self-Aligning Capabilities”. The goal of the project was to increase our understanding of the seismic performance of woodlaminated frames with locally reinforced members. Two sets of experiments were performed. First, a full-scale one-story frame with relatively rigid connections was tested on a shaking table, Kasal et al. (J Perform Constr Fac, 2013). To achieve a stiff connection, hardwood blocks and self-tapping screws 120–250 mm long were used to facilitate the connection between beams and columns. Next, a scaled three-story frame was tested. Highly stressed regions of beams and columns of the second frame were reinforced with glass fiber (GF) sheets to mitigate potential brittle failure in anticipated weak zones. Frictional connections between beams and columns permitted a control of the magnitude of dissipated energy in the system. The connections were expected to behave stiffly under small excitations, dissipate energy through friction during moderate seismic excitation, and degrade at higher seismic loads. While the friction can be relatively well predicted, the degradation of the connection cannot, due to the uncertainty in properties of wood.