STRUCTURAL DESIGN – SEISMIC BEHAVIOUR OF THE WALL

Biohabitat solid wood wall has been strictly tested in order to verify its structural behavior. University of Karlsruhe carried out flexure tests and cutting test according to the Common Understanding Assessment Procedure (CUAP) 03.04/16 dated 16/05/2010.

From the tests, it was evident that Biohabitat solid wood wall, complies with national and international requirements for what the wooden structures are concerned (services classes 1 and 2, as defined in EN 1995-1-1).

From the tests, it is evident that Biohabitat solid wood wall, complies with national and international requirements for the wooden structures (services classes 1 and 2, as defined in EN 1995-1-1).

Wood has an optimal ratio between weight and resistance: at equal resistance, wooden structures are less heavy. Besides the wood is elastic, thus wooden buildings resist to heartquake without suffering serious damages and deformations.

For the study of the seismic behavior of structures built with Biohabitat solid wood walls, experimental tests were carried out by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, based on the standard procedures of ISO/CD 21581.

The tests showed that the walls have a high torsional stiffness, with very limited cut distortion even for higher loads.

Wooden dowels, thanks to their flexibility allow to dissipate the seismic wave energy keeping safe the structure: during the tests no failure or breakage in the structure of the wooden wall occurred.