Design of an Experimental Set-up to Capture the Dynamic Response of Mass Timber Post-and-Beam Systems Under a Column Removal Scenario

Mid-rise to tall mass timber buildings are required to be designed for progressive collapse, as specified in the Australian National Construction Code (NCC). Owing to the computational complexity of nonlinear dynamic procedures, static procedures are usually adopted in the design practice. To take into account of the dynamic and nonlinear characteristics of progressive collapse, the current design guidelines, such as DoD [6] and GSA [9], suggest multiplying the static responses by a dynamic increase factor to replicate the actual structural behaviour. However, existing research on the progressive collapse of mass timber structures is extremely limited, especially regarding their dynamic responses. This paper will firstly introduce a literature review on existing designs of dynamic test set-ups under a column removal scenario. Thereafter, the final design of a test set-up to capture the dynamic behaviour of timber post-and-beam systems under a sudden column removal scenario will be presented. Preliminary results are discussed showing the effectiveness of the dynamic experimental set-up.