Cross-laminated timber (CLT), often referred to as “superwood,” is at the forefront of a new construction trend. In recent years, countries such as the United States, Canada, and several European nations have begun promoting its use in high-rise buildings. This system’s exceptional strength and stability come from its manufacturing process, which involves joining layers of wood at cross angles.
As part of mass timber, CLT belongs to a category of solid wood products specifically designed to replace concrete and steel in structural applications. This type of wood boasts excellent mechanical properties, an attractive appearance, and remarkable versatility, making it ideal for constructing large-format floors, ceilings, and walls. Furthermore, mass timber is a renewable resource with a significantly lower carbon footprint than conventional materials, thus contributing to more sustainable urban construction.
While reinforced concrete has historically been the primary construction material in Chile, integrating new systems like wood-based alternatives presents a challenge. It requires rigorous scientific studies to validate their performance and build a solid technical foundation for their national implementation, especially crucial in a seismically prone country such as ours.
Responding to this global trend, Dr. Erick Saavedra is leading a Fondecyt Regular project to develop high-fidelity multiscale computational models. These models will predict building performance during extreme earthquakes, optimize structural design, and generate new strategies to enhance lateral stability and reduce post-seismic displacement. The research will specifically utilize Chilean radiata pine, a species widely employed in the national forestry industry.
“The Chilean radiata pine we’re using in this study possesses a complex microstructure, complete with porosity, moisture, and other unique material properties,” notes Dr. Erick Saavedra. “From a computational modeling perspective, this is a major challenge; we need to fully capture that microstructural richness to precisely anticipate its seismic behavior.”
Radiata pine, the most common forest species in Chile, is an excellent candidate for sustainable structural solutions given its low weight, high rigidity, and ready availability. Validating its use in high-rise buildings holds the potential for a significant positive impact on the construction industry and society alike, leading to more efficient, ecological, and Chile-specific building systems.
“Unlike traditional materials such as concrete or steel, which have high carbon dioxide emissions from their manufacturing processes, wood offers a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative,” states Dr. Erick Saavedra. “It is renewable, sequesters carbon, and demands less energy for its processing. Furthermore, when appropriately designed, wood possesses fire-resistant qualities, as carbonization occurs at the surface level, thus preserving its internal mechanical properties.”
This project, backed by VRIIC’s Scientific and Technological Research Office, combines two critical methodologies. It proposes developing high-fidelity multiscale computational models to accurately simulate the dynamic behavior of hybrid wood and concrete structures. Concurrently, it will perform vibrating table experimental tests, replicating extreme seismic conditions on single or multi-story structures constructed from cross-laminated timber and reinforced concrete.
“These tests will be unique in Chile,” states the academic. “They’ll allow us to build and test large, multi-story structures, ultimately reproducing earthquake effects on these buildings. This will be a major advance for structural engineering in the country.”
The first stage of this project will involve two key actions. First, experimental studies will analyze structural connectors in wood-to-wood and wood-to-concrete joints, crucial components for hybrid building performance. Second, researchers will begin developing a multiscale computational model, initially to represent wood’s small-scale behavior, factoring in its internal structure, porosity, and moisture content.
As the project advances, numerical modeling will expand to cover larger structural scales, including CLT beams, columns, walls, and slabs. These modeling advancements will be complemented by new experimental tests, allowing for direct comparison between simulation results and the actual behavior of the building systems, followed by vibration tests.
Dr. Erick Saavedra concludes, “My belief is that the real challenge lies in delivering results that hold practical value and can inform both structural design and construction. That is precisely the significant contribution we envision from this project.”