Anchorage of Woodframe Buildings: Laboratory Testing Report

This report was prepared as part of the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project, which is aimed at developing reliable and economical ways of improving woodframe building performance in earthquakes. The Woodframe Project is divided into five interrelated elements: Testing and Analysis; Field Investigations; Building Codes and Standards; Economic Aspects; and Education and Outreach. This report presents the results from the laboratory testing phase of Task 1.4.1.1: Anchorage of Woodframe Buildings, which is within the Testing and Analysis element.

The main objective of Task 1.4.1.1 is to improve the understanding of the seismic performance of sill plate-to-foundation anchorage connections and thereby to increase the reliability of these critical connections under earthquake loading. The impetus of this research results from brittle failures (longitudinal splitting) of sill plates that have been observed after earthquakes and during laboratory testing. Understanding sill plate mechanics and failure mechanisms are required if more reliable sill-plate-to-foundation anchorage connections are to be developed.

Task 1.4.1.1 is divided into two parts: literature review and laboratory testing. The literature review part of Task 1.4.1.1 is contained in an earlier and separate report. The primary purpose of the literature review was to identify and review variables from previous testing and post-earthquake observations, and to confirm initial test variables that should be considered during the laboratory testing part of this task. For the laboratory testing part of Task 1.4.1.1, different sill-plate- to-foundation anchorage configurations were tested. This report addresses the laboratory testing part of Task 1.4.1.1.