Experimental and numerical evaluation of hold-down connections on radiata pine Cross-Laminated-Timber shear walls: a case study in Chile

Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) structures have gained popularity in the field of medium-rise buildings due to the quick fabrication and assembly of the panels. However, connections in radiata pine CLT shear walls and the behavior of CLT structures under lateral loads is still not well understood. In this context, this paper studies the structural behavior of hold-down connections on radiata pine CLT walls by means of experimental tests and numerical simulations under static and dynamic conditions. The test response of connections was replicated by calibrating two hysteretic models on OpenSees. The main results showed that applied models can reproduce the hysteretic behavior of hold-down connections with high precision. It was observed that hold-down connections on radiata pine CLT walls reached a loading capacity similar to other wood species, but the strength and stiffness degradation was quicker, and no significant difference with the parallel to grain capacity of angle bracket connections was noticed. In addition, it was found that radiata pine CLT walls can achieve suitable cyclic loading performance with low damage level in connections and reach high levels of displacement ductility. Finally, the importance of friction in the load capacity of the wall was also shown.