Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The goal of this proposal and several related projects is ensuring that structural engineers have the best possible knowledge and information for ensuring low-rise wood buildings are safe against possible damaging effects of extreme natural loading events, especially strong wind events. Insurance claims for damage to such buildings regularly exceed $10 billion per year in North America alone. Specific objectives of this project are to collect and analyse data on the full-scale structural behaviour of two low-rise wood buildings (including realistic field performance data), and to facilitate dissemination and use of the data by a broad community of academic and industrial interests. This builds on momentum and achievements under the current NSERC CRD project "Load paths in wood buildings" (2002-2006), and helps create a genuine national 'wood engineering research team' (from academic and industrial circles and coordinated with regulatory bodies). Specific focus is on characterisation of wind loads on full-scale specially constructed buildings, one of light-frame and the other of post-frame construction. The buildings are located in Fredericton and Winnipeg respectively. There will be correlation of full-scale wind observations with observations on small-scale wind tunnel models of those buildings and development of complex numerical models for behaviour of the experimental buildings. Complex numerical models will be used to develop generalized but simple models that structural engineers can sensibly be expected to use on a daily basis. Transfer of findings to practice will be via national design codes. It is intended that at least 3 graduate students at the collaborating universities (New Brunswick, Concordia and Manitoba) will receive research training under the auspices of the project, and that several other students will receive indirect training under the project. Activities will integrate directly with those in parallel work by industrial sponsoring organisations (Forintek Canada Corp. and the Canadian Wood Council). Achieving the project goal will help maintain Canada's traditional leadership in intellectual and industrial aspects of using wood as a construction material.