Understanding the dynamic behaviour of timber buildings is essential for accurate vibration serviceability modelling, yet remains underexplored due to complexities in connection behaviour and contributions of non-structural elements. The study investigates these aspects through the case of Fyrtornet, a newly constructed 51 m tall 11-storey timber building in Sweden, featuring a glued-laminated timber (GLT) truss system and cross-laminated timber (CLT) slabs, as well as a CLT core. Ambient vibration testing was conducted at seven construction stages. For each stage, a finite element model was developed and updated based on the measured modal properties. The research identifies the progression of stiffness contributions of GLT and CLT connections, the foundation, and the glass façade. Results show that while the GLT connection stiffness changes during construction, it reaches a value consistent with a rigid behaviour. This observation was attributed to the installation of screed and partition walls before the final construction stage. In the earlier stages, the slip modulus equation provided by EC 1995-1-1 appears to offer a suitable estimate for GLT connection stiffness. Another important observation was that the foundation exhibited characteristics of a rigid boundary condition. Finally, the stiffness contribution of the glass façade was minimal. 

There is a growing interest in timber buildings in Sweden and increased availability of Glulam (GLT) andparticularly Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) products. Timber buildings, though, often have difficulties in fulfilling theperformance requirements of a building project. The use of concrete elements in addition to timber elements in the load-bearing structure is a widespread solution, introducing timber-concrete hybrid buildings. The study presents responsesfrom interviews regarding ten different timber-concrete hybrid building projects in Sweden with a load-bearing structureabove the foundation level in both timber and concrete. Four main types of timber-concrete hybrids were found: a CLTstructure on top of a concrete structure, a post-beam system in GLT with CLT slabs and concrete walls, a post-beamsystem in GLT with concrete hollow core slabs, and a timber structure with some slabs in concrete. The results show thattimber-concrete hybrid buildings are flexible and suitable for various construction types. The reasons for using concretein timber construction were primarily to increase self-weight, obtain longer span lengths, and overcome shear wallcapacity issues. There is still a lack of competence in the design of structural timber projects, and at most, five differentstructural designers were involved in the load-bearing design of a single building. This highlights issues regarding projectmanagement of the design process within timber-concrete hybrid buildings

Timber buildings, including hybrids, are increasingly popular due to their beneficial environmental aspects. During 2023-2024, the authors had a unique opportunity to perform ambient vibration testing of two six-story buildings with identical timber structures placed on top of different types of concrete substructures and with varying soil conditions. Ambient vibration tests were performed twice during the construction of each building. Finite element models were created for each vibration test, and their parameters were updated simultaneously to accurately simulate the buildings' natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes. The model updating process was facilitated by training four surrogate models to represent the four finite element models corresponding to the two buildings and the two construction stages, which were then verified against the finite element models. The updated models were used to investigate the effects of the in-plane shear stiffness of cross-laminated timber walls, soil-structure interaction, moisture content, and non-structural walls on the dynamic properties of hybrid timber-concrete buildings. The results showed nearly identical dynamic performance of the two buildings, suggesting that the differences in substructure and soil conditions do not affect the natural frequencies and mode shapes. A sensitivity analysis revealed that the in-plane shear stiffness of the CLT walls is the most significant factor affecting the modal properties of the two buildings.

Timber-concrete hybrid buildings are an innovative solution to increase the amount of timber materials used in modern buildings. This study presents a dynamic evaluation of a nine-story timber-concrete hybrid residential building during construction. The building consists of a seven-story structure in cross-laminated timber (CLT) on top of two stories in concrete. Ambient vibration tests were conducted seven times during the 13-month construction period, including tests with only the structural elements in place and tests of the finished building with the façade, non-structural walls, and other internal finishing. The results show a clear decrease in the natural frequencies of the building as the building gets higher and more elements are installed. However, a slight increase in the natural frequency was observed following the installation of the non-structural walls in the final construction stage. A corresponding finite element analysis is presented for each test, providing additional insights into the parameters typically used in the structural design process. The study demonstrates the importance of properly selecting reduction factors for CLT elements in a dynamic finite element analysis. It also shows the importance of considering non-structural walls, both regarding weight and stiffness, even in buildings where the number of non-structural walls is relatively small compared to structural walls.

With the increased availability of timber materials, such as cross-laminated timber, the number of buildings using timber as a structural material has been rapidly increasing. As these buildings are new to the market, limited data and research on their long-term structural modal performance are available. This is particularly important in timber buildings since the material properties of wood are highly affected by environmental factors, especially the moisture content. Over time, the evolution of the dynamic properties is essential for damage indication in structural health monitoring systems since natural changes can mask the influence of damage. This work presents three years of observations from a structural monitoring system collecting data ever since completing a four-story timber-concrete hybrid building in Sweden. Ambient vibrations of the building were measured using geophones, resulting in 3,100 datasets. The temperature and relative humidity were measured both externally using a weather station and internally using sensors embedded in several walls and a slab in the building. The observed natural frequencies of the building vary with +/- 0.2 Hz around the mean value over time. Linear regression analysis shows a significant correlation between the moisture content of a cross-laminated timber slab and the natural frequencies (coefficient of determination R2 up to 0.84). A predictive model for the natural frequencies is presented, taking seasonal variations and a dry-out of the structure into account. Variations from the expected values are +/- 0.1 Hz at most. The model clearly narrows the error margins for damage indication in a structural health monitoring system.

In recent years, there has been a rapid development of new timber products, such as cross-laminated timber, leading to an increase in buildings using timber as a structural material. House Charlie, a 4-story office building in Växjö, Sweden, is a typical example of a hybrid building that uses glulam timber for the post-beam system combined with slabs in cross-laminated timber and shear walls in concrete. A structural health monitoring system has been installed, collecting data ever since its completion in 2018. This work presents the building's modal performance collected by geophones under ambient vibrations over three years, which are used to calibrate a finite element model. The effects of changes in different material properties and model assumptions on the overall dynamic behavior of the building are shown. The aim is to establish a structural model that captures the actual behavior of the built structure that uses both timber and concrete as structural materials.

Wood is widely used in the construction sector and gaining increased market share. It isinteracting with the surrounding so that its mechanical and geometrical properties (stiffness,strength, swelling, density, …) change with temperature and humidity levels. In a full-scalebuilding, the eigenfrequencies are hence also varying with the climate. In the current paper,results from a preliminary experimental study are presented. A beam made from cross-laminated timber was hanging freely supported inside a climate chamber. Enforced vibrationsfrom a controlled shaker were taken to obtain the eigenfrequencies. With decreasing moisturecontent, the first and third eigenfrequencies were increasing (bending modes) while the secondeigenfrequency was decreasing (torsional mode). A finite element study allowed for checkingwhich parameters is influencing to which degree so that individual changes can be combined.

Wood and wood-based products interact with the surrounding environment. The interaction with moisture is particularly interesting since it influences the structural properties and may lead to degradation. A structural health monitoring system was established in House Charlie, a four-story office building in Växjö, Sweden, made from timber. It has been running since summer 2018, collecting vibration data and information on temperature and humidity at multiple positions within the façade and the slab. The present work shows that the moisture content within a slab of the building varies throughout the years, attributed to an ongoing dry-out and seasonal changes. Furthermore, the variation is directly coupled with the weather data from a public weather station in Växjö.