PRESENTATION: “Resilience of Timber Structures: Considerations of Connection Ductility and Other Design Issues” by Pierre Quenneville

Presentation

When – 5.30pm – Tuesday 21st May 2019//

Where – Building 423, Conference Centre, Room: Conf Centre/423-342 (Next to School of Engineering), University of Auckland. Access from Symonds Street (Refer City Campus Map below).

Agenda –
17:30 pre-presentation refreshments
18:00 presentation

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Abstract

For timber engineers, the provision of ductility can only be achieved through connections as structural timber members will fail in a brittle manner. The traditional design philosophy has been to specify a large quantity of small dowel-type fasteners that would repeatedly bend and crush the wood fibres to provide the ductility and strength. Design concepts have been developed using this philosophy and efficient structural system are used in light timber framing. Nevertheless, this design philosophy has its pitfall.

With the introduction of mass timber construction and a desire to use more timber in non-residential construction, higher timber buildings are being considered and the traditional LLRS used in light framing are no longer appropriate. New resisting systems have and are being developed to provide the required ductility. The evolution in timber building height, resulting in higher resistance demands, combined with the desire to provide low-damage solutions, is leading researchers around the world to propose strong and discrete solutions.
During the presentation, desirable timber connection features are discussed (e.g. ductility and over-strength factors). Various timber connection concepts are presented along with their characteristics, advantages and pitfalls.

Biography

Pierre Quenneville is a structural engineer by education and has been involved in timber design since 1986. He obtained his PhD in 1992 and his research interests are on timber structures, specifically connections. He is recognized for his research on timber connections and their brittle failure modes. Pierre has been serving on the Canadian O86 Wood Design standard for timber structures since 1993 and is still actively involved in its on-going development. From 1999, he has consulted on numerous timber projects in Canada and overseas.

Pierre moved to Auckland in 2007 to take on the chair of timber design at the University of Auckland. He served as Head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department between February 2011 and June 2017. His main research direction is to develop design rules for connections in timber structures. He has participated in the STIC research consortium between 2008 and 2013 and more recently is co-leading research on resilient seismic connections and their significance for structures design. He is active in the revision of the connections chapter of the New Zealand timber design standard.

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