Simpson Strong-Tie to present research findings on seismically resilient tall-wood buildings at International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon, March 26-28; unique designs for damage-free performance created with NHERI TallWood Project

Simpson Strong-Tie®, the leader in engineered structural connectors and building solutions, will showcase its expertise and new product innovations at the International Mass Timber Conference, March 26–28, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Along with exhibiting on the show floor, Simpson Strong-Tie will present real-world research results on seismically resistant connections for tall-wall buildings during a panel discussion. 

Panel Presentation: “Seismically Resilient Connections for the NHERI TallWood Project” 

On March 27, Simpson Strong-Tie Advanced Research Manager Steven Pryor will join a group of panelists to discuss findings from the NHERI TallWood project, a collaborative research project conducted between 2016 and 2023 by a coalition of researchers and industry partners to develop a resilience-based seismic design methodology for tall wood buildings. 

Pryor will discuss how the NHERI TallWood Project created perhaps the most seismically resilient non-base isolated building ever tested on a shake table. To support the unique testing goals for the project, several unique connections were designed for the gravity and lateral system to supply the level of damage-free performance necessary to survive the dozens of large ground motions the building was subjected to. Pryor will provide details of those connections and discuss how their designs already impact other commercially available connections. 

“Being a part of the TallWood project has given us a unique, hands-on perspective as to some of the real-world design challenges, and it has allowed us to focus on developing connections that address those challenges,” Pryor said. “In terms of innovation, we developed a special column-base connection that pivots around both axes simultaneously; it can pivot in one direction or the other, or you can swing it around in an orbit and there’s no damage happening at the bottom of the connection. We also developed a beam-to-column connection, a double knife plate connection that allows the columns and beams to move back and forth without binding. It performs two key functions — transferring gravity loads and providing stability for the columns — all while allowing this whole thing to move and not bind up during an earthquake.” 

Along with Pryor, the panel session also will feature NHERI TallWood experts Shiling Pei, associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines; Brooke Whitsell, assistant preconstruction manager for Timberlab; and Reid Zimmerman, technical director at KPFF Consulting Engineers, as well as moderator Ricky McLain, Senior Technical Director for WoodWorks. 

See the panel on Wednesday, March 27, from 1:15 – 2:45 in Ballroom 204 of the Oregon Convention Center.