Vibration Performance of Mechanically Laminated Timber Floors

Mass timber panels including cross-laminated timber (CLT), dowel-laminated timber (DLT), and nail-laminated timber (NLT) are largely used as floor slabs in mass timber buildings or hybrid timber buildings. As a lightweight material with a relatively high strength/stiffness to density ratio, mass timber floors are prone to foot-fall induced vibration. Vibration serviceability limit design often governs the maximum allowable span of mass timber floors. In this study, the dynamic properties and vibration performance of DLT floors were investigated. The applicability of the CLT floor vibration design equation in CSA 086-19 to DLT was first verified. The result showed that with rigid supports, the current CLT floor vibration design equation can be used for DLT floors with appropriate elastic stiffness values. Additionally, the acceleration responses of DLT floors under normal human walking with different measurement locations and walking paths were recorded and analyzed. The root-mean-square acceleration data was compared with the acceleration criteria and multiplying factors in ISO 10137, indicating a poor correlation with the result of subjective evaluation.