Timber Ceiling Made of Laminated Beams and Boards

This article provides a comprehensive overview of essential seismic analysis methods, explaining their principles and applications, as well as the scenarios in which they are most effective

Fire design according to Chapter 16 of the NDS [1] for wood members and surfaces is available in the Timber Design add-on. This article shows how the charring of wood and reduced cross-sectional dimensions can be accounted for in the fire design with an example from AWC Technical Report No. 10 [2].

When calculating regular structures, data input is often not complicated, but it is time-consuming. Save your valuable time with input automation. The task described in the present article is to consider the stories of a house as single construction stages. Data are entered using a C# program so that the user does not have to enter the elements of the individual floors manually.

In RFEM, the oriented strand board (OSB) material is available for the USA and Canada. The material parameters are taken from the "Panel Design Specification manual".

Using the "Beam Panel" thickness type, you can model timber panel elements in 3D space. Simply specify the surface geometry and the timber panel elements are automatically generated using an internal member-surface construct, including the element connection stiffness. The Beam Panel thickness type is defined using the Multilayer Surfaces add-on.

A "beam panel" provides you with the following advantages:

• Single-sided or double-sided sheathing
• Automatic calculation of a semi-rigid coupling between studs and sheathing
  • Nailed sheathing connection
  • Stapled sheathing connection
  • User-defined sheathing connection
• Representation as a complete geometric 3D object (frame, studs, surface, etc.), including eccentricity and automatically calculated stiffness between elements
• Consider openings via surface cells
• Design of the individual structural elements utilizing the Timber Design add-on (full shear wall design planned for a future release)
• Other material options available (e.g., particle board, gypsum, or fiberboard sheathing with cold-formed steel sections)

• Go to Explanatory Video

Among others, the following cross-laminated timber manufacturers are available in the layer structure library:

• Binderholz (USA)
• KLH (USA, CAN)
• Kalesnikoff (USA, CAN)
• Nordic Structures (USA, CAN)
• Mercer Mass Timber
• SmartLam
• Sterling Structural
• Superstructures listed in Lignatec Edition 32 "Cross-Laminated Timber of Swiss Production"

By importing a structure from the layer structure library, all relevant parameters are adopted automatically. The library is continually updated.