Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Performance of buildings under earthquake and blast loads have demonstrated their vulnerability to such events, posing serious threats to the safety and security of occupants. It has become necessary to enhance the performance of existing buildings to meet contemporary design requirements through improved retrofit techniques. Under blast and seismic loading, the ability of structural systems to sustain large deformations while maintaining a significant level of post-peak resistance is of crucial importance in order to dissipate the energy associated with dynamic loading. Limited investigations have been conducted in this field, especially on the performance of mass-timber buildings. Also, although building codes and standards adequately address design and detailing of new construction, existing mass-timber buildings may be particularly vulnerable to significant damage or failure from blast and seismic loading. Enhancing blast critical or seismically deficient infrastructure may be necessary where the structural attributes of the elements are inadequate or where replacement of the structural components is not feasible. Adequate performance for both seismic hazards and blast threats typically require ductility and energy dissipation capacity, while maintaining continuity, redundancy, and structural integrity. The proposed research program builds on highly successful past contributions by the applicant and his team in the fields of seismic and blast engineering, where fundamental knowledge was established. The overarching objective of proposed research program is mitigation of hazards associated with seismic and blast loads on timber buildings. The focus of the proposed research program will be on developing innovative techniques to enhance the energy-dissipative capability of timber structural systems. This will be achieved by establishing risk evaluation strategies and developing technically and economically viable retrofit techniques. The proposed research program has a great potential to significantly impact the knowledge base in the field of seismic and blast design of timber structures. The research will yield data that would introduce provisions to the Canadian blast design standard (CSA S850) and the Canadian timber design standard (CSA O86), and it will cement previous proposals by the applicant for capacity-based design. Numerical models, developed within this program, are essential for extrapolating knowledge beyond test data to introduce new design provisions. The research results will help ensure that engineers both in Canada and abroad have the best possible knowledge and information to support design decisions for timber structures. Furthering knowledge on the behaviour of timber structures under seismic and blast loads will improve safety of timber buildings while adding highly trained and dedicated professionals to the Canadian workforce.