With strength to weight ratios superior to steel and concrete, Techlam’s structural Glulaminated timber has long proved it’s worth in seismic events.
Glulam has an excellent strength to weight ratio in comparison to steel and concrete. When considering equivalent beam sizes for the same load-bearing capacity in glulam and steel, glulam has approximately 1.5 – 2 times the strength to weight ratio of steel.
This means there is a benefit in the buildability of glulam structures as well as the advantage of much smaller foundations needed, enabling reduced overall structure weight, ideal in earthquake-prone areas.
In recent years there has been a lot of research and scientific effort into increasing the use of structural laminated timber in commercial construction. Significant investment has been made in research and development by the timber industry in partnership with government agencies.
There has been a noticeable shift of late with developers moving toward using structural timber for low to mid-rise multi-story offices as well as large-scale single level buildings such as warehouses, arenas, and community buildings.
Wellington International Airport, structural connection. Design to withstand significant seismic loadings. These connections withstood the major EQ centered in Kaikoura early the morning of 14th November 2016.
Key Features:
- Excellent strength to weight ratio
- Huge benefits in buildability
- Smaller foundations required
- Reduced overall structure weight, ideal in earthquake-prone areas.
- Cost benefits over alternative materials.
- Ideal for large-scale single level buildings such as warehouses, arenas, and community buildings, and low to mid-rise multi-story offices.
Contact the team at Techlam for any technical inquiries regarding the design of Techlam Glulam for performance in seismic events.
