Proposed Design Methods for Timber Members Subjected to Blast Loads

Abstract

Current blast design provisions for wood members are limited and may unintentionally lead to designs that are too conservative or not sufficiently safe. Novel methodologies for the design of light-frame wood stud walls, glulam members, as well as cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels subjected to blast loads are proposed and verified with published experimental full-scale test results. Additionally, full-scale static and dynamic experimental tests were conducted as part of this study to augment published data, thereby helping provide specific design parameters and modeling methodologies. Key design parameters such as dynamic increase factors, ductility ratios, and resistance curves were proposed and evaluated for the purpose of establishing accurate and representative design methods. The peak member resistance and maximum midspan displacements were used as performance metrics to verify the accuracy of the proposed analysis method and design methodologies. The results obtained from the proposed design methods were shown to establish the overall behavior of the timber members with reasonable accuracy, while correctly predicting the governing failure mode. The current blast design provisions were also evaluated and key shortcomings highlighted. Additionally, general design considerations for timber connections were introduced and are discussed in this paper.