An 18-storey tall mass timber hybrid student residence at the University of British Columbia

In an effort to better understand the futurebehaviour of this building, the structure was fittedwith accelerometers, moisture meters, and verticalshortening string pots. Research teams at UBC andSMT Research Ltd undertook this work.The accelerometers will allow research teams todetermine in-situ damping values from ambientvibration testing (wind). These values will help todetermine a baseline damping ratio for future hybridbuildings of this type, specifically useful for dynamicwind acceleration calculations.Additionally, sensors were placed on the concretecores to record the building’s angle of inclinationduring a seismic event. The data collected fromthe accelerometers and inclination gauges will helpto verify the building’s performance in a significantseismic event.String pots will measure the floor-to-floor axial columnshortening at strategic levels and provide more insightinto axial column shortening in highly-loaded glulamcolumns.Lastly, moisture meters (Fig. 9) and data loggers wereinstalled in the CLT panels, collecting data from themanufacturing plant to the final installed condition.The meters will continue to measure moisture contentthroughout the service life of the building. In a fewyears’ time, this will provide an effective moisturecontent timeline from fabrication to moistureequilibrium.