LAUSR

Abstract As a part of sustainable development initiatives, post-tensioned timber structural systems have been developed in recent years with the intention of implementation in seismically active regions. Ductility is achieved through rocking connections between members and optional steel yielding elements. Numerical investigations on such systems have been mostly limited to macro-modeling to avoid complexities arising from the wood anisotropy. This paper examines the lateral cyclic behavior of post-tensioned Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) beam-column subassemblies using three-dimensional continuum finite element (FE) modeling. The results of a testing program on full-scale interior joints with unreinforced and steel reinforced configurations at the connection interface are presented. A description of the pre-processing and solution of the FE models, including material, geometric and contact nonlinearities, element mesh, and analysis is provided. The FE results are then validated against the experiments through a verification study. Focus is placed upon the anisotropy of the material as well as the difficulties emerging from performing the nonlinear analysis for such systems.