RESEARCH GRANT AWARD: RGA #02-23 - FEMA P695 Study on Post-tensioned Mass Timber Rocking Wall Lateral Systems
The Charles Pankow Foundation (CPF) is pleased to announce the award of a new research grant for a FEMA P695 study on post-tensioned mass timber rocking wall lateral systems. Collectively led by a group of academic and industry experts, the research project will focus on mass timber construction which is gaining great interest in recent years from the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. While a number of mass timber building have been built, most of them locate in low-seismic regions with non-wood lateral systems such as concrete core or steel braced frame. Mass timber rocking wall lateral system have been studied quite extensively and the knowledge and R&D deliverables have been accumulated to a point that this new system can be codified into ASCE7. This project will conduct a FEMA P695 study to determine seismic design parameters for this new mass timber lateral system for ASCE7 adoption. A project duration of two years is expected in order to target the ASCE7-28 development cycle. This project represents an essential step to codify the first resilient wood-based lateral system in the U.S. and aligns very well with the vision of Charles Pankow Foundation: To provide the AEC industry with a better way to design and build.
The project team has been specifically assembled to bring together the experts in research, practicing design, and code writing who have demonstrated successful past performance with Post-Tensioned Mass Timber Rocking Walls:
- Shiling Pei: Associate Professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. Professor Pei is the lead Principal Investigator.
- Reid Zimmerman: Technical Director at KPFF Consulting Engineers.
- Douglas Rammer: Research General Engineer at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory.
- M. Omar Amini: Manager of Wind and Seismic at the American Wood Council (AWC).
- Marjan Popovsk: Lead Scientist in the Building Systems Group at FPInnovations.
- Scott Breneman: Senior Technical Director - Mass Timber Program Manager at WoodWorks
Industry Champions include Ron Klemencic of MKA and Emily Guglielmo of Martin / Martin. Industry Partners are:
- KPFF Consulting Engineers
- Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
- DCI Engineers
- TimberLab
- StructureCraft
This work will be performed under Research Grant Agreement #2-23.