OTT1475
Key Benefits
- Passive self-centering – Wall panels leverage superstructure weight using elliptical geometry to return to equilibrium
- Minimizes Environmental Impact – Utilizes CLT in building lateral systems to reduce carbon footprints of construction while enhancing structural performance
- Construction Efficiency – Works within platform assembly schemes to simplify construction sequencing
- Cost-Effective- Seismic solutions make good economic sense because of the resilient mechanisms that protect both property and lives
- Versatile – Panel geometry and connections customized to control lateral stiffness, displacement, and energy dissipation
Technology
Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panelized construction is gaining worldwide popularity as a sustainable, lightweight, and rigid load-bearing material that is quick to erect on building sites. The inventor has added curvature to the load-bearing edges of a wall panel, assembled in multistory building construction, enabling the walls to act as self-centering pendulum isolators when subject to earthquake effects.
The rigid-body kinematics of rocking panels, anchored by ductile connections or post-tensioning, provide flexibility and effective means of hysteretic energy dissipation. This technology aims to further the possibilities of CLT rocking systems through the development of curved end bearings for wall panels, to induce pendulum motion. Such a system can decouple the building from ground motion, thereby isolating structures and reducing earthquake force demands.
Inventor (s)
Marco Lo Ricco, licensed Professional Engineer in Wisconsin, Structural Engineer in Illinois and received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Civil Engineering.