Strength and stiffness of cross-laminated timber (CLT) shear walls: State-of-the-art of analytical approaches

•Design challenges of CLT structures and CLT components.•Load distribution in CLT shear walls.•Assessment of strength of CLT shear walls.•Assessment of lateral stiffness of CLT shear walls. In the last years, the timber construction practice has been revived. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) plays a key role in this timber renaissance. CLT constructions has seen a noticeable increase in the last decade, especially in Europe, as it enables tall wooden buildings using a sustainable material. Unfortunately, a consequence of the rapid advancements of timber technologies and construction techniques of the past years is that modern timber engineering codes are struggling to keep up to date. Furthermore, the results of scientific research in this field is often inhomogeneous and fragmented, and do not help in proving that these new methods and construction techniques are reliable and safe to use. To overcome this gap, COST Action FP1402 was created which main purpose is to create new, and improve on existing, knowledge of timber design and construction. This paper provides a summary of multiple fundamental aspects of design of CLT shear walls through a review of relevant scientific papers. This paper thus aims to be a “state-of-the-art” of available methods used to assess the load-carrying capacity and the displacement of CLT shear walls.