Cross Laminated Timber (CLT, XLAM) is a product extremely well suited for multi-storey buildings because of its versatility. With lengths up to 16 meters and the possibility of extending with mechanical joints or glued connections, widths of up to 2.5 meters depending on manufacturer and thicknesses up to 500 mm, almost any necessary shape can be found on the market today.
The potential of composite structures
Developments are still going on rapidly and new possibilities and new applications far from being exhausted. One such new possibility is the use of CLT elements in a combination with a concrete core and structural outriggers in very high buildings, a ´wood-concrete skyscraper´. CLT has already been shown to be very efficient in multi-storey buildings up to 10 storeys. In this paper, an analysis is given of how a concrete core and CLT walls can be used to design very tall buildings in the range of up to 150 meters, but for more than 80% made of timber products.
Time and money savings with wood and concrete
Timber can become an alternative in rapidly expanding cities, where there is a need for high apartment buildings. The building layout uses outriggers at certain intervals, integrated tension cables and CLT structural wall elements in the facades. The design makes optimal use of the advantages of light-weight building elements with comparable structural performance as traditional concrete elements. Savings during the erection stage in terms of money and time are highlighted as well as the CO2 emissions of such a building in comparison with concrete. A concept of the building has been analysed for the location of Shanghai according to the Chinese wind load specifications.
To view or download the paper at science.direct.com please follow this link.