Hybrid system: Cross-laminated timber/cold-formed steel
The growing interest in building sustainably while addressing the need to create additional housing and other facilities while maximizing the use of existing land has resulted in increased demand for wood as a structural material. The use of wood is among the preferred approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as it is a renewable material that lends itself well to zero-carbon and carbon-negative buildings. British Columbia’s target is to achieve zero carbon for all new buildings by 2030 so the implementation of building strategies that support this target is paramount.
The Cross-laminated timber and cold-formed steel hybrid system: A new approach (external link) report by Timber Engineering Inc. presents structural considerations of the novel cross-laminated timber (CLT) and cold-formed steel (CFS) hybrid system. The CLT/CFS system is a new cost-effective and structurally efficient system that helps meet the demand for taller mass timber buildings. Mass timber construction is no longer dominated by low-rise construction but includes tall residential, office, commercial mixed-use buildings among others.
This novel hybrid system uses CLT floor panels and CFS walls in a platform-type construction to carry all gravity loads, whereas the lateral loads are carried by conventional systems, typically concrete cores or steel braced frames. The CLT/CFS system is a new cost-effective and structurally efficient system that helps meet the demand for taller mass timber buildings.
This report
- introduces timber as a material and the new trends towards mass timber construction
- describes typical and conventional structural systems for hybrid mass timber buildings
- explains the combinations of CLT and CFS as structural components to make up the CLT/CFS system, including structural system optimizations and a typical building example
- outlines the main advantages of the system
- presents the key structural considerations of the new CLT/CFS system by means of a worked example
