College - Author 1

College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Department - Author 1

Architectural Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Architectural Engineering

College - Author 2

College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Department - Author 2

Architectural Engineering Department

Degree - Author 2

BS in Architectural Engineering

Date

8-2022

Primary Advisor

Kevin Dong, College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Architectural Engineering Department

Abstract/Summary

The timber buckling-restrained brace (TBRB) experiment at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), began in 2018 with the goal of finding whether timber may provide proper restraint against buckling of a steel brace. The TBRB was motivated by the limited lateral force resisting systems (LFRS) available for low-to-mid-rise, type V construction; this system would provide strength and ductility at a scale and level of cost appropriate to timber construction.

Early research consisted of uniaxial component testing, where researchers played with the balance between the core brace design and utilization of timber casings for buckling restraint, with minimal material use at the forefront. While iterating on the design, uniaxial component testing graduated to lateral braced-frame testing in Spring of 2021, eventually leading to the proof-of-concept design detailed in this report.

The TBRB research at Cal Poly culminated in June 2022 with the last braced-frame test resulting in a compression-to-tension capacity ratio of 1.06, with an average of 0.96 among the latest five tests. This research was presented at the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) Convention in 2022, accompanied with the publication of the following paper.

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