Timber Structures in French Caribbean Seismic Zone, From Prescription To Experimental Validation for Bracing Systems

Abstract eng:
. Wooden house is a traditional mode of construction in the Caribbean Islands. The presence of a cyclonic risk and a seismic risk imposes detailing and design adapted to these two dynamic situations and this type of housing. For these two dynamic actions, the role of the mass is completely different and has to be taken into account in detailing and design. Simplified rules and multi-risk guidelines are adapted to the new standard panel of Eurocodes (NF EN 1995 and 1998-1) for French Caribbean Islands. Simplified earthquake rules for individual housing (CPMI Z5) is not yet published, but it has been tested on different projects by civil engineering design companies. Storm and earthquake design guide for wooden houses (maisons bois parasismiques et paracyclonique aux Antilles) was published few years ago, but it is not yet applied. This work present an experimental campaign performed in French Caribbean islands on traditional timber moment resisting frames. These bracing structures and light wooden frames are realized by students of a local technical school and by carpentry companies. These structural wall respect standard&guide requirements or local patterns and are full scale tested. Wall specimens, experimental setup, results and analysis are presented in this paper. A wide place is given to different detailing design and behavior. Anchoring to the basement is also discussed.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket