Post Tensioned structural components

Post tensioned shear walls and post tensioned beams and columns are the latest in engineered timber technology that provide a solution for seismic performance.

See the following case studies for a sneak peak at these world firsts in engineered timber technology.

Massey University College of Creative Arts

The College of Creative Arts building has a linear building form and is designed to step down through the contours of the site. A central circulation stair and adjacent gallery spaces provide a new connection across the University campus and creates a public interface for the Creative Arts College. Lower levels recessed into the landform house the more cellular spaces such as workshop, green screen and multipurpose presentation space. The upper three floor levels are supported by a lightweight timber frame structure that house the flexible studio teaching spaces.

Features include:

LVL timber columns and beams designed as a post tensioned seismic frame.
Pre cambered composite floor units combining LVL joists and 100mm thick concrete slab, prefabricated off site as 7.2x2.4m wide flooring units and craned into place and serve as the finished floor in the studios.

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Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology Arts and Media Building

This multi-storey building utilises LVL for structural beams, columns and floors. It boasts a world first timber design for sesmic resilience.

Aurecon structural engineers have completed a “world first” timber seismic design for this project. It incorporates the first of a new generation of earthquake‐resistant engineering technology. Using pairs of rocking timber walls, joined with energy dissipaters, the structure is able to absorb seismic energy and reduce building damage during an earthquake. This is a new generation of seismic engineering known as damage avoidance design.

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Carterton Events Centre

It is only the second time worldwide that the system, invented in 2005 by University of Canterbury researchers, has been used. The $6 million Carterton Events Centre, the first civic building to be built in the town for more than 100 years, includes a 300-seat main auditorium using the new ‘Pres Lam’ structural system.

The timber system uses laminated veneer lumber (LVL) to form large shear walls which are post-tensioned to the ground using embedded high-strength steel rods, which have been tested to withstand earthquake loads.

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