10-Story NHERI Shake Table Test

In May 2023, a 10-story building made of cross-laminated timber (CLT) underwent testing on one of the world's two largest earthquake simulators at the University of California San Diego. The goal? To validate the capacity of tall mass timber buildings to withstand seismic events. This project could pave the way for changes in building codes for residential and commercial structures that could lead to more widespread adoption of mass timber—especially in areas prone to seismic activity. It could also validate mass timber and other innovative technologies as vehicles to help make buildings safer and more resistant to earthquake activity.  

In an interview with UCSD, Shiling Pei, associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines and lead investigator on the project, said, “It performed exactly as we expected—the building remained damage free after two major design-level earthquakes back to back.” What does this mean for the future of mass timber building systems? 

This testing is part of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) TallWood Project, an industry-wide initiative to prove the seismic resilience of mass timber and its strength as a low-carbon structural building material supported by the Softwood Lumber Board (SLB), WoodWorks, Think Wood, and Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC), among others. The principal investigators include researchers from the Colorado School of Mines; the University of Washington; the University of Nevada, Reno; Colorado State University; Washington State University; and Lehigh University. 

Find additional information on the NHERI Tallwood Project. 
Read about the gravity design of the full-scale test building.