Wood or would not? Earthquake test to study how 10-story timber building stands up to Seattle shake

If the idea of a Seattle earthquake gives you the shakes, this test might be right up your alley.

Researchers from the University of Washington are taking part in a project to determine how a 10-story building made entirely out of timber will perform during an earthquake simulation.

The building, to be tested on Tuesday on a large shake table at the University of California San Diego, is the tallest to ever be tested in such a way. Back-to-back shake tests will be streamed online starting at 10:30 a.m. PT.

The tests are meant to simulate earthquakes equivalent to two previous seismic events: the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake in California in 1994, and the magnitude 7.7 Chi Chi earthquake in Taiwan in 1999.

But the location this time, theoretically, is Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

“We picked the location in Capitol Hill and did exactly what you need to do if designing a 10-story mass timber building in the city,” Professor Jeffrey Berman, with the UW’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department, told UW News.

The researchers worked closely with both an architecture firm and structural engineers. A site-specific hazard assessment — from soil types to fault lines — informed the building design....

Read the entire article here:www.geekwire.com/2023/wood-or-would-not-earthquake-test-to-study-how-10-story-timber-building-stands-up-to-seattle-shake/