IMPACT OF INTER-PANEL CONNECTIONS ON VIBRATIONS OF CLT FLOORS

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) floors are typically composed of multiple CLT panels. At design stage, such floors are usually modelled numerically either as a single solid slab or more frequently as a set of independent panels with no inter-panel connections. This paper aims to demonstrate numerically a significant effect of two common interpanel connections, i.e. single surface spline and half-lapped joint, on vibration modes of CLT floors composed of two and three panels. The onnections are modelled as an equivalent 2D elastic strip nested inbetween the CLT panels. This relatively simple yet robust numerical model can be used conveniently in design offices, regardless finite element (FE) software. The matching monolithic slabs and floors without the inter-panel connections are studied for comparison. The results showed that the difference is far too big to ignore.