Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is a flexible building system suitable for

use in all assembly types (e.g., walls, floors and roofs). It is made from
industrial dried lumber stacked together at right angles and glued over their
entire surface. It is an exceptionally strong product that retains its static
strength and shape, and allows the transfer of loads on all sides. Panels are
prefabricated based on the project design and arrive at the job site with
windows and doors pre-cut. The enormous panels are up to half a foot thick.
Many engineers like to call it plywood on steroids.
Because of CLTs structural properties and dimensional stability the
product is well suited to floors, walls and roofs used in mid-rise construction.
The walls and floor panels may be left exposed in the interior which provides
additional aesthetic attributes. The panels are used as prefabricated building
components which can speed up construction practices or allow for off-site
construction in remote locations.
Compared with steel or concrete, CLT, also known as mass timber, is
cheaper, easier to assemble, and more fire resistant. Its also more
sustainable. Wood is renewable like any crop, and its a carbon sink,
sequestering the carbon dioxide it absorbed during growth even after its
been turned into lumber. Waugh Thistleton estimates that the wood in
Stadthaus stores 186 tons of carbon while the steel and concrete for a
similar, conventionally built tower would have generated 137 tons of carbon
dioxide during production. Wood nets a savings of 323 tons.
Demographers predict that the planets urban citizenry will double in 36
years, increasing the demand for ever-taller structures in ever-denser cities.
Whether

architects

and

construction

firms

build

those

towers

from

unsustainable materials like steel and concrete or employ new materials like

CLT could make a huge difference in the Earths health. Put differently, the
worlds urban future may just lie in its oldest building material.
Melbourne Australia has a 10-storey 32-meter building (Fort) which is
known as the tallest timber apartment building in the world. The structure
was built entirely from CLT. With the structure being built entirely from CLT,
Fort will reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 1,400 tonnes when
compared to concrete and steel the equivalent of removing 345 cars from
roads. Using CLT offers better thermal performance and requires less energy
to heat and cool which means reduced energy and water costs which
averages savings of $300 per year or up to 25 per cent less than a typical
code-compliant apartment.

CLT Benefits
Design Flexibility - It is relatively easy to increase the thickness of a CLT
panel to allow for longer spans requiring fewer interior support elements.
Manufacturers use CNC equipment to cut panels and openings to exact
specifications, often to meet very tight tolerances (within millimeters). Plus,
when field modifications are needed, they can be made with simple tools.
Thermal

performance

and

energy

efficiency

CLTs

thermal

performance is determined by its U-value, or coefficient of heat transfer,

which relates to panel thickness. Thicker panels have lower U-values; they
are better insulators and therefore require less insulation. Since CLT panels
can be manufactured using CNC equipment to precise tolerances, panel
joints also fit tighter, which results in better energy efficiency for the
structure. Because the panels are solid, there is little potential for airflow
through the system. As a result, interior temperatures of a finished CLT
structure can be maintained with just one-third the normally required heating
or cooling energy.

Cost effectiveness - In a 2010 study by FPInnovations, researchers

compared the cost of CLT versus certain concrete, masonry and steel
building types. While the advantages of faster construction time and lower
foundation costs were not accounted for, the estimated cost of a U.S.-built
CLT structure was found to be particularly competitive for mid-rise residential
(15 percent less), mid-rise non-residential (15 to 50 percent less), low-rise
educational (15 to 50 percent less), low-rise commercial (25 percent less),
and one-story industrial buildings (10 percent less).
Environmental advantages - Wood is the only major building material that
grows naturally and is renewable, and life cycle assessment studies
consistently show that wood outperforms steel and concrete in terms of
embodied energy, air pollution and water pollution. It also has a lighter
carbon footprint because wood products continue to store carbon absorbed
by the trees while growing, and wood manufacturing requires less energy
and results in less greenhouse gas emissions.
Less waste - CLT panels are manufactured for specific end-use applications,
which results in little to no job site waste. Plus, manufacturers can reuse
fabrication scraps for stairs and other architectural elements, or as biofuel.
Fire protection - CLTs thick cross-section provides valuable fire resistance
because panels burn slowly. Once formed, char protects the wood from
further degradation. When used in Type IV construction, CLT assemblies also
have fewer concealed spaces, which reduces a fires ability to spread
undetected. In addition, CLT offers increased compartmentalization if used
for interior walls.
Seismic performance - Because of their dimensional stability and rigidity,
CLT panels create an effective lateral load resisting system. Researchers
have conducted extensive seismic testing on CLT and found panels to
perform exceptionally well with no residual deformation, particularly in multistory applications. In Japan, for example, a seven-story CLT building was

tested on the worlds largest shake table. It survived 14 consecutive seismic

events with almost no damage. CLT also offers good ductile behavior and
energy dissipation.
Acoustic performance - Test results show that because the mass of the
wall contributes to acoustic performance, CLT building systems provide
adequate noise control for both airborne and impact sound transmission. CLT
building systems offer additional acoustic benefits because builders use
sealant and other types of membranes to provide air tightness and improve
sound insulation at the interfaces between the floor and wall plates.

CLT Properties and Performance

High axial load capacity for walls
Less susceptible to buckling
High stiffness/strength-to-mass ratio
High shear strength to resist horizontal loads
Less susceptible to effects of soft story failure than other platform-type
structural systems
Floor span-to-depth ratios 20:30; roof span-to-depth ratios 30:40

The Making of CLT

1) Layer
Beams of wood, usually spruce, are set down side by side in layers, with
each layer perpendicular to the one beneath it, creating a wood board up to
a foot thick. A thin layer of glue is placed between each layer.

2) Press
The wood boards are placed in a massive press, which squeezes them
together.
3) Sand
The edges of the boards are sanded down. If longer sections are needed, the
edges are fingerboarded to create a serrated interlocking end. They are then
glued to the matching end of another panel to create sections up to 78 feet
long.
4) Cut
The boards are cut to custom specification, incorporating spaces for windows
and utilities, using 3-D files sent by the architects or construction team.

Anatomy of a Timber Tower

1) Whereas steel or concrete structures are skeletal, using columns to carry
loads, CLT towers distribute weight over the entire, solid vertical panel.

2) Steel or concrete L-brackets fix the horizontal and vertical CLT panels
together.

3) The horizontal spans between vertical CLT elements can be significantly

longer than with steel or concrete beams.

4) Interior walls are usually fireproofed by applying a layer of gypsum paneling

on top of the mass timber panels.

5) A two-inch layer of concrete typically covers two two-inch layers of insulation

(separated by a three-inch void) to reduce acoustic vibration between floors.

6) Panels come made to order with windows cut out and sometimes piping and
electrical installed. Construction is as easy as screwing the panels together.

7) Elevators have double walls with insulation sandwiched between them for
fire safety and soundproofing.