Designing Mass Timber Construction for Blast Loading

There has been a notable expansion of the use of mass timber construction in North America in recent years. Sustainability and aesthetics are key drivers for mass timber construction, and the robustness of panelized products like cross-laminated timber (CLT) opens new possibilities in protective construction. To better understand mass timber’s performance under blast loading, a series of blast tests involving various types of mass timber have been performed. This presentation describes the current state of the science related to designing mass timber construction for blast loading.