Seismic Performance of Timber Platform Frame Buildings

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, it is widely accepted that timber constructions offer relevant environmental benefits if wood is collected from local and sustainably utilized forests, since this promotes the planting of trees and this stores carbon during its lifetime, thus reducing the greenhouse effect. Apart from sustainability issues, wooden constructions present other relevant advantages: high reusability, easy recyclability (low emission), moderate costs, high resistance/weight ratio, simpler foundations because of the lightweight timber, rapidity of construction, insulating qualities, and a pleasing appearance. Among the existing wooden constructing technologies, Timber Platform Frame Buildings are frequently preferred, mainly because their lesser timber consumption.

The seismic capacity of wooden buildings is, potentially, good. This is due to their light weight, their high damping, and the increased resistance of timber to rapidly varying forces; conversely, contrary to a certain common belief, timber is a rather brittle material. Therefore, ductility needs to be provided by steel fasteners or, more recently, by energy dissipators. In the first case, damage affects timber members, thus preventing any possibility of repair; in the second case, the technology is not yet fully developed and only few applications have been reported. Timber Platform Frame Buildings are extremely light, and have high redundancy; however, their lateral resistance is rather limited and the incorporation of steel frames has been recently proposed. All these circumstances point out that research on seismic behavior of Timber Platform Frame Buildings is strongly needed.

Scholars are cordially invited to submit their research to this Special Issue. We believe that it will serve as a platform to disseminate their works and to encourage further studies.

Prof. Dr. Francisco López Almansa
Guest Editor

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