Research program on the seismic resistance of conventional wood-frame construction

Canada's wood products research institute, Forintek Canada Corp., in collaboration with Tongji University of Shanghai, China, and the Trees and Timber Institute, Italy, initiated a research program in 2004 on the seismic resistance of conventional wood-frame construction. The objective is to provide data needed for the quantitative assessment of the seismic building code provisions for this type of housing in both Canada and China. The research program is designed to generate complementary data to the experimental and analytical work carried out under the recently completed CUREE program in California, among others. The program comprises shake table tests of two two-story buildings, cyclic tests of large shear wall configurations, simplified and detailed analytical studies, and application to codes and standards. Tests carried out at the Tongji University 4 m by 4 m shake table subjected two two-story specimens, 6.0 m by 6.0 m in plan, to a progression of 3 seismic motions at amplitudes of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.55 g PGA. Both symmetrical and nonsymmetrical configurations were tested; capacity spectra and changes in natural frequencies for the symmetric case are presented here