Thesis
Alternate foundation sill plate and hold-down elements for light-frame shear walls
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2009
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102965
Abstract
Hold-down hardware in engineered, light-frame shear wall construction is used to resist uplift forces from the tension chord member. This shear wall hold-down hardware can be expensive, time consuming to install and difficult to install incorrectly on many shear walls. Shear wall hardware can be susceptible to galvanic corrosion caused by the current preservative chemicals used to treat PPT lumber. This study tested an alternative system using a triangular gusset made out of light gauge steel along with a wood plastic composite (WPC) sill plate. This light gauge steel gusset and WPC sill plate have been found to have shear strength values 1-1/2 times greater than conventional IBC 2006 braced walls. WPCs tend to absorb less moisture than solid wood; therefore, WPCs have a better resistance to insects, fungal attack and are more dimensionally stable. Another objective of this study was to develop and demonstrate laboratory processing procedures for melt bonding pairs of WPC boards. It was found that the meltbond process utilizing infrared heat lamps produced glue-line shear strength properties similar to the bulk composite properties. A third objective of the study was to understand the withdrawal resistance of nails used with WPCs, particularly 0.113 in. by 2-3/8 in. smooth and ring-shank nails. These nails are typical for sheathing applications in light-frame construction and usually are driven by a pneumatic nail gun. To determine if pneumatic nail guns are a feasible way to drive nails into WPCs, two sizes of framing nails with a diameter of 0.131 in. and 0.162 in. were studied. The air pressure was increased until the nails were consistently driven. Spacing and edge distance requirements of the nails were also determined for use with WPCs. It was found through experiments the minimum edge distances and spacing requirements from the NDS and SDPWS do not apply to dowel type fasteners in WPCs.
Metrics
56 File views/ downloads
13 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Alternate foundation sill plate and hold-down elements for light-frame shear walls
- Creators
- Richard Henry Utzman
- Contributors
- Donald A. Bender (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525054201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis