Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Canada is one of the leading countries in the renaissance of modern wood buildings thanks to the advancement of mass timber panels (MTPs). MTPs are large-scale engineered wood products that can be used as prefabricated wall, floor and roof elements in buildings. MTPs have been increasingly used as floor slabs for mid to high rise wood and hybrid buildings due to their ease of prefabrication and dry construction process. Due to their lightweight construction and relatively low stiffness, MTPs are prone to vibration induced issues including human induced floor vibration and sound transmission. However, there are no general vibration serviceability design methods for MTP floors, and the knowledge in impact sound insulation of MTP floors is also very limited. The proposed comprehensive research program will bridge the gaps in the technical information on vibration serviceability design and vibroacoustic performance of mass timber floor systems. The research will investigate the vibration serviceability design and vibroacoustic performance of various MTP floor systems. The research will be conducted on the basis of a thorough understanding of the vibrational behaviour of the floor systems and their interaction with structural joints. The long-term goal is to develop integrated floor design methods and innovative sound insulation solutions for mass timber floor systems. The short term goal is to investigate the vibration serviceability performance of various kinds of mass timber floors systems as well as their vibroacoustic behaviours under impact loads and the mechanism of impact sound transmission between junctions through experimental and numerical methods. The outcomes from this proposed research program will directly contribute to the advancement of the NBCC and CSA-O86 regarding the vibration serviceability design methods of mass timber floor systems and noise control in mass timber buildings. The outcomes from the research program will benefit the wood construction industry and forest product industry in Canada, (a) by enhancing the development of sustainable mass timber buildings with systematic building solutions, which will increase the market share of mid- to high-rise wood building and reduce the carbon footprint of the building industry; (b) by increasing the acceptance of multi-family wood buildings due to improved sound insulation performance. The research program will also train HQP with specialist knowledge on building acoustics and vibration with integrated wood design capabilities in the Integrated Wood Engineering program at UNBC who are ready to contribute to the emerging mass timber construction industry. Ultimately, the successful implementation of my research program will contribute to the green construction through wood movement in Canada and will generate new economic opportunities for mid-rise wood constructions in residential and commercial building markets.