Low‐Rise Timber Buildings Subjected to Seismic, Wind, and Snow Loads

Abstract

Wood‐frame buildings have generally performed well when subjected to extreme wind, seismic, or snow loads. Some of this performance is attributed to the material characteristics of the wood itself and some to the redundance in structural assembly. Failures, however, have occurred. Not all damage can be eliminated, but much could be avoided or minimized based on past observations. The objective of this paper is to look at past common failures and their causes. A main observation is that marginally engineered or nonengineered structures performed worse than engineered structures. Connection or anchorage failures between major components were commonplace. Engineered details of joints are available. The primary conclusion is that, a technology transfer effort is required to incorporate engineered features in more wood‐frame buildings to reduce many of the commonly observed failures in natural disasters.