Investigating the kinematic modes of CLT shear-walls with openings

The objective of the current study is to investigate the kinematic modes in CLT shearwalls with openings and the effect of different hold-down configurations on the base shear and the hold-down tensile load. The analysis procedure is validated using tests on five full-scale CLT shearwalls tests. In general, it is found that the lintel slenderness and hold-down stiffness have significant effects on the global kinematic behaviour. For all studied cases, the ratio of the tensile load in the hold-down resulting from single and double hold-down configurations is observed to be between 1.00 and 1.20 for shearwall with door openings and between 1.10 and 1.40 for shearwalls with window openings. Generally, the magnitude of the ratio is decreasing with hold-down stiffness and increasing with the lintel height. The degree of coupling is found to decrease with increased hold-down stiffness and increases with wall segment width. In the zone containing one centre rotation for the entire wall, the degree of coupling increases with the lintel slenderness due to resulting increase in the lintel length, whereas in the zone containing one centre rotation for each wall segment, the results show a decreasing tendency of the degree of coupling with increased lintel beam slenderness. Reasonable agreement between the experimental and modelling results is observed for all walls, with the greatest deviation found for the wall where failure occurred in the lintel beam.