A General Design Approach for Post-tensioned Timber Subassemblies

Structural systems with ductile connections have been proposed for multi-storey timber buildings based on research conducted over the last decade. The members designed with unbonded post-tensioning for recentering and energy dissipation through the mild steel elements exhibit almost complete re-centering capacity and significant energy dissipation without any structural damage. This paper describes the general design procedure developed following extensive experimental and numerical investigations of subassemblies. With similar features and geometric configurations, the moment capacities of different types of subassemblies subjected to either unidirectional or bidirectional loading condition can be calculated using the same scheme with appropriate values for connection interfaces.