Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Cross-Laminated Timber Panels Subjected to Out-of-Plane Blast Loads

Presented in this paper are the results of an experimental program investigating the out-of-plane behavior of CLT panels under static and blast loading. A total of 18 CLT panels, with panel thicknesses of 105 and 175mm corresponding to a 3-ply and 5-ply panel, respectively, were investigated with the aim to determine the dynamic increase factor (DIF). An average dynamic increase factor of 1.28 on the resistance and no apparent increase in stiffness from static to dynamic loading were observed. Two resistance material predictive models that account for high strain-rate effects and the experimentally observed post-peak residual behavior were developed. A single-degree-of-freedom model was validated using full-scale simulated blast load tests, and the predictions were found to match well with the experimental displacement-time histories.