Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Wood structures are on the rise! Heightened public awareness regarding carbon footprints has dramatically increased the demand for sustainable construction; together with the development of novel engineered wood products and advanced connector technology, this has initiated a resurgence in the use of wood in tall residential and non-residential buildings. Further, the adoption of the objective-based design approach in the National Building Code of Canada that favors tall wood construction if equivalent performance can be demonstrated. Over the past 5 years, the Chair created and disseminated knowledge for heightened understanding and increased structural use of wood, and identified specific applications for which further reliable and actionable design guidance is needed. In active collaboration with academic colleagues and the design and construction industries, the Canada Research Chair will conduct research regarding novel connections, components and systems for structural applications in tall buildings. The main objective of the Chair is to develop of design guidance for tall wood structures, which is vital to their industrial acceptance. The Chair’s team will address five immediately relevant research topics: i) Capacity-based design procedures for balloon-framed cross-laminated timber structures; ii) Mechanisms to prevent disproportionate collapse of balloon-framed tall-wood buildings; iii) Standardized design provisions for wood-concrete-composite floors; iv) Connection detailing and overall structural behaviour of wood-hybrid lateral systems; and v) Robust applications of adhesive bonding in wood structural engineering. Addressing these research questions holistically will differentiate the program from other efforts globally, which tend to focus on individual subsets of these problems. The proposed program will exploit and fuel the current momentum of initiatives focused on sustainability and innovative wood construction and shape future research agendas.