WOOD CONCRETE SKYSCRAPERS

Jan-Willem van de Kuilen1, Ario Ceccotti2, Zhouyan Xia3, Minjuan He4, Shuo
Li5

ABSTRACT: Multi-storey buildings in timber have gained increased interest with the development of cross laminated
timber products. A wide variety of CLT-elements is currently on the market, most characterized by a fixed width and
lengths of up to 16-20 meters. Thickness generally is limited for technical reasons to approximately 350 mm. Even
though no product standard is available yet, multi-storey buildings have been realized with CLT in a number of
countries, showing the potential of the product. A multi-storey building with seven storeys was tested for earthquake
resistance by CNR-Ivalsa in 2007 in Japan. A further development in this field is the development of mixed structures,
such as wood-concrete skyscrapers. Depending on the conditions, very tall buildings can be built, mainly made out of
timber. With the right combination of other materials such as concrete, skyscrapers can be designed using a system of
outriggers and tensile elements in the facade with a combination of CLT-panels. In this paper, some basic concepts are
presented, as well as a number of advantages using such combinations, including positive effects on crane times and
building economics. The main market of such buildings is thought to be in rapid developing countries such as China
and India, where cities show rapid growth and demand for environmentally friendly housing is on the rise.

KEYWORDS: Cross Laminated Timber, Multi-storey building, Outriggerse, Skyscrapers, Crane times.

1 INTRODUCTION 12345 with earthquake tests being performed on 3 and 7 storey

buildings in Japan on elements against push-over [1],
Cross Laminated Timber is a product extremely well [2], and on special connections between panels [3]. In
suited for multi-storey buildings because of its the latter it was shown that panels with only three layers
versatility. With lengths up to 16 meters and the have a comparable good performance against cyclic
possibility of extending with mechanical joints or glued loading (earthquakes) as five layer panels, showing the
connections, widths of up to 2.5 meters depending on potential of CLT in high buildings with horizontal
manufacturer and thicknesses up to 350 mm, almost any loading situations as most important. As far is known,
necessary shape can be found on the market today. the highest building created so far with cross laminated
Developments are still going on rapidly and new timber elements is Murray Grove in London, a nine
possibilities and new applications far from being storey building where also the elevator shafts are made
exhausted. One such new possibility is the use of CLT of CLT [4], [5].
elements in a combination with concrete in very high
buildings, a wood-concrete skyscraper. CLT has already
been shown to be very efficient in multi-storey buildings

1
Jan-Willem G. van de Kuilen, Holzforschung München,
Technische Universität München, Winzererstraße 45, 80797
München, Germany. Email: [email protected], Delft
University of Technology, the Netherlands
2
Ario Ceccotti, CNR-IVALSA Istituto per la Valorizzazione
del Legno e delle Specie Arboree, via Biasi 75, 50019 Sesto
Fiorentino (FI), Italy. Email: [email protected] Martin
3
Xia Zhouyang, Holzforschung München, TU München,
Germany. Email: [email protected]
4
Minjuan He, Tongji University, Shanghai, China,
[email protected] Figure 1:. Murray Grove during the erection stage (photo
5
Shuo Li, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, courtesy of KLH, www.klh.at)
[email protected]
The high load-bearing capacity of cross laminated
timber, both in plane as well as out of plane, makes it
suitable for even higher buildings, but for timber alone a
limit in the number of storeys can be expected
somewhere between 15 and 20 storeys, even though in the floors are hanging on a tension structure.
recent years the limit was thought to be around 10
storeys [6]. For multi-storey buildings with such a high The Yin Mao Tower has a hexagonal central concrete
number of storeys, fire safety may become the main core and on each facade two heavy steel-concrete
governing parameter, whereas earthquake design and columns. Outriggers are located on the 24th, 51st, and the
horizontal wind loads may become governing for slender 87th floor. The outriggers are steel trusses which is
and/or tall buildings. Slender and tall buildings are efficient for office buildings, but for residential
currently required in many areas in the world where buildings, concrete could also be used. The outriggers
populations are migrating in increased numbers to big themselves are two storeys high. For the concept and
cities. This is the case in countries like China and India, building types discussed here, it is assumed that one
but also countries as Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan and many storey for the outrigger is sufficient.
others have increased pressure for developing housing
alternatives that shall be cheap, fast built and
environmentally friendly. The word ´megacities´ is no
longer applicable since such large cities become part of
larger regions with clusters of cities. For such
´megaregions´ or ´megalopolis´ areas, the concept of
wood-concrete skyscrapers may be an alternative. The
concept is based on the use of outriggers at certain
intervals, which support wooden multi-storey infill
buildings. The infill buildings or substructures are multi-
storey wood buildings that may have around 10 to 15
storeys themselves. Sustainable building materials can
thus increase their share also in tall buildings.

2 SKYSCRAPERS AND THE

OUTRIGGER PRINCIPLE
The principle of using outriggers in skyscrapers has been
applied in a number of well known buildings around the
world. The construction is based on a core in which
elevators, stairs etc. are brought together and which
provides resistance mainly against shear, and partly Figure 3: Cross section of Yin Mao tower in
against bending. Shanghai, central core, outrigger and columns
Two examples are given: the former Philips headquarter
building in Eindhoven (Figure 2) in the Netherlands and
the Yin Mao tower in Shanghai, China (Figure 3). The
Taranath [7],[8] analysed outrigger systems and
Philips building has one large outrigger on the top, and
demonstrated that the optimum location for a single
outrigger is approximately in the middle height of the
building for minimizing the roof lateral displacement
under wind load. An outrigger placed at top, acting as a
cap or hat wall, is about 50% less efficient than that
placed at middle height. However, in many practical
situations, it may be more permissible to locate the
outrigger at the building’s top. For a tall building with
multiple-riggers, generally, the optimum performance of
n-outriggers should be placed at 1/n+1, 2/n+1,…, up to
the n/n+1 height locations, i.e. arranged evenly at the
height of whole building. Each additional level of
outriggers increase the lateral stiffness, up to four
outrigger levels may be used in very tall buildings. A
structure with outriggers will have 30 to 40 percent less
overturning moment in the core compared to a free
cantilever in addition to having less drift. The decreased
lateral displacement and overturning moment of the
building will also decrease the cost of its columns and its
foundation.

With outrigger systems, the flexural capacity of the

building increases effectively, while the shear capacity
Figure 2: Former Philips headquarters building cannot be increased as it has to be carried mainly by the
with outrigger on the top, Eindhoven, NL. core.
 tensile forces are taken up by integrated steel tension
The function of the outriggers can be listed as: bars. The CLT elements contain spaces where the steel
bars are placed and the panels are vertically connected
1. Providing stability to the core; through consecutive floors, see figure 4. Such steel
2. Providing a level arm for the global bending tension bars are commonly available in the construction
moments; industry and available in diameters of up to 42 mm. The
3. Providing a division between timber sections for fire available length of such bars is up to 16 meters, so a
safety; coupling is needed around every fourth storey.
4. Allowing for building services (equipment);
5. Shelter spaces in case of emergencies. Apart from structural safety, another important design
aspect for tall buildings is comfort, generally taken into
Most of the buildings with outrigger systems have office account by limiting horizontal drift, interstorey drift and
spaces located around a central core. The facades are vibrations. Horizontal drift should typically be restricted
generally constructed using single columns. Such a to around 1/500 of the height of the building or smaller.
concept is also applicable for apartment buildings using Bending and shear stiffness are thus important parameter
wood-based elements as infill. These elements can then as well. The principle is shown in figure 5. The outrigger
be easily made of traditional wood-frame panels. concept can be applied in one or two main building axes.
a
If only one axis is chosen, the effect of differential
deformations due to different axial stiffness values needs
b to be considered in the design. Especially when a
platform frame concept is used for the timber
substructure, compression deformations perpendicular to
A the grain need to be considered.
The principle of a wood-concrete skyscraper with load-
B
bearing wall elements in compression and integrated
tension bars is shown in Figure 5.

Roof

C
c
Timber
d
substructure

Anchors/
Outrigger
Tensile bars integrated in CLT wall elements

Rigid outrigger storey(s)

CLT Panel CLT wall elements for compression forces

Walls Couplers
Floor
Steel
tendons Concrete storey as
Rigid outrigger storey(s)
outrigger

Cross section
Figure 4: Coupling of steel tensile bars inside CLT
Elements.

However, another option using outrigger systems for

Foundation
apartment buildings is to make the outer shell (the
facades) of load carrying structural wall elements,
preferably CLT because of the high volume of wood
available for compression forces. On the other side of the Figure 5: Principle of a wood-concrete skyscraper
building where tension forces prevail, two options are with integrated bars for tensile loads
available. Either the CLT elements take up the tensile
forces by means of anchors fixed to the outriggers, or the
A system with diagonal bars is also possible when which seldom steps inside the west region of 120°
bending moments are low or for not too tall buildings. In eastern longitude, will rarely land in Shanghai because
that case, the CLT wall panels can be provided with a of Shanghai's location of 31°14'N 121°30'E, but cause
layer with 450 board angle as to provide for the spaces influence as windstorm of wind force 8-9 class with
needed for the steel tension bars. A combination is also wind speeds at about 17 m/s – 24 m/s. Reference basic
an option where the upper element is constructed of a wind pressure in Shanghai is 0.4 kN/m² on 10-year
system with bars under an angle for the highest timber return period, 0.55 kN/m² on 50-year return and 0.6
substructure. For very large structures, it is also possible kN/m² on 100-year return. On the basis of this pressure,
to create multi-storey timber substructures that are actual wind load on the facade is calculated using GB
independent from the main structure. In such a case, the 50009 of China:
external horizontal loads are taken up by separate
elements independent of the timber infill. Such structures wk  z s z w0 (1)
are however not considered here.
in which:
3 SHANGHAI EXAMPLE wk = effective design pressure
Shanghai with over 20 million people is one of the w0 = reference wind pressure
largest modern cities in China, located in the middle of
China's east coast at sea level. A typical view of high rise z = exposure factor allowing for the height and
apartment buildings in Shanghai is shown in Figure 6. location of the structure
s = aerodynamic shape factor or pressure coefficient
z = effective gust effect factor
The exposure factor μz takes into account the height of
the building and the terrain roughness, i.e. if the building
is surrounded by other building and the type of terrain.
As the timber-concrete building is design to be located in
Shanghai, the exposure factor is assumed as type D
according to GB 50009, for large city-centres with heavy
concentrations of tall buildings. The shape factor is the
external pressure coefficient averaged over the area of
the surface considered, influenced by the shape of the
building, the wind direction, and the profile of profile of
the wind velocity. For a rectangle building, the value of
Figure 6: Aerial view of Shanghai. μs in windward is 0.8, while in leeward is -0.6. Thus for
the design of the lateral load resisting, global shape
Shanghai has a humid subtropical climate. In winter, factor μs of the design of timber-concrete building will
cold north wind coming from Siberia can cause one or be 1.4. The factor βz is a gust effect factor taking in
two days snowfall per year. In summer, the city is account the dynamic response of the building. As a
susceptible to typhoons. An aerial view of Shanghai is consequence, wind load pressure for normal buildings is
given in figure 6, showing the huge amount of high rise around 1.5 x (0.8 + 0.6) x 0.55 = 1.2 kN/m2. For tall
residential buildings. Although no typhoon in recent buildings discussed here, this value increases to around
years has caused great damage, the high wind speed is 2.8 kN/m2 for a location like Shanghai.
still one of the main design governing parameters
causing horizontal deflection and vibration of tall The timber-concrete building to be design is a concept
buildings. with three outriggers, 43 stories and about 145m high,
35m with and a depth of 25m. Such a building
The building plan of a typical multi-storey apartment corresponds to development trend of normal residential
building is given in Figure 7. Each storey contains buildings in centre of Shanghai which nowadays usually
comprises four apartments having around 80 m2 of living reach 30 to 40 stories. Building slenderness is around
space each. Thick black lines are considered to be load 1:6.
bearing elements. Such an apartment building may have
around 30 to 40 storeys, giving a total height of around 3.2 STRUCTURAL ASPECTS
100 to 140 meters, assuming a 3.3 meter storey height
for residential construction. An example case is now For the example it is assumed that the circumference of
considered for the wood concrete skyscraper concept. the storey is made of load bearing walls, as well as a
central core. The building is shaped with three outriggers
3.1 WIND LOAD at the 10th, 20th and 30th storey respectively.

The highest recorded date of wind force is in the range

of 10 to 11 with a high speed about 30 m/s. Typhoons,
 Figure 7: Example of residential building lay-out in Shanghai. Floor plan roughly 25 x 35
meters.

Parameters for the preliminary design of such a building stiffness of this building can be expressed as follows
deal with the shear and bending stiffness of the elements. [11]:
Typically, the following parameters need to be known:
a( EI )coreCLT  b( EI )outrigger
EI Bending stiffness of the load carrying walls for ( EI ) Avg  (2)
bending; ab
GA Shear stiffness of the wall elements that
contribute to limit the shear deformation; where a is the number of CLT and concrete core stories,
EAei2 Contribution of wall elements to the bending b is number of (concrete) outrigger storeys.
stiffness, having an eccentricity ei to the neutral E is modulus of elasticity and here it is assumed that
axis. CLT for buildings with preliminary compression stresses
can be stratified, so a large portion of the timber is in the
Especially with regard to the value of G a large grain direction, while a smaller portion is glued
difference is observed between concrete and CLT with a crosswise. If it is assumed that 2/3 of the panel has the
ratio of approximately 15 to 1: namely 12000 N/mm2 for boards loaded parallel to the grain, an effective value of
concrete and 750 N/mm2 for timber. The building has can be taken as 8000 N/mm2. Concrete is homogeneous
two major bending stiffnesses, one is the stiffness of the structure material, and the modulus of elasticity of
floors with mainly CLT elements and concrete core, and (cracked) concrete assumed to be 15.000N/mm² for this
the other one is the stiffness of the outrigger floors, here example. This gives for the floor made of wood with
presumed to be mainly made of concrete. The concrete core the following bending stiffness:
preliminary analysis is performed on the building with
lay-out and cross sections as shown in figure 8. For this EIclt,c = EICLT+EIc = 3.71E10+1.34E9=3.84E10 kNm2,
example, the central core is located in the centre of the
building, so the stiffness parameter EAei2 is set to zero. and for the outrigger floor:
This is normally not the case, but only slightly
complicates the preliminary design. The average EIclt,c = EIC+EIc = 5.0E10+1.34E9=5.13E10 kNm2
 NA

35m

ei q

concrete z
25m 8m H
core panels

21m
ei
CLT external wall panels

w y

(a) CLT floor with concrete core (b) Lateral load from y-direction

35m
Example of a wood concrete
skyscraper with 4 outriggers.
- Floor plan 25 x 35 m.
- Central concrete core.
- Outriggers made of concrete
8m concrete z - Wind load q = 2.8 kN/m2.
25m core panels - Connection walls between core
and outer walls not shown.
- CLT thickness 350 mm
21m - Concrete thickness 250 mm
concrete external wall panels

w y

(c) Outrigger floor

Figure 8: Simple example of a wood concrete skyscraper for a preliminary design

This leads to an average bending stiffness of the building

using equation (2) of 3.93E10 kNm2, with 40 timber (3)
floors and 3 concrete outriggers. 4
qw H

For the bending sway of the building, the maximum 8EI
displacement at the top of the building can be in which:
determined as follows: qw = wind load (kN/m2);
H = building height (m);
EI = building bending stiffness (kNm2).
The average bending stiffness can be used when the need to be built, number of cranes and crane times may
timber on the tension side of the building is cooperating become important from an economic point of view. As a
in the building stiffness. If this is not the case, the comparison, crane times are compared based on the
stiffness becomes less and more deformation may be transportation time of materials to the floors that need to
expected. The calculated bending displacement at the top be constructed. A typical crane type used for high rise
of the building becomes around 160 mm with a wind apartment building construction is a tower crane. The
load of 2.8 kN/m2. The sway index for bending is capacity of such a crane is basically based on the weight
calculated as δ/H≈1/950. that needs to be transported to the i-th storey. The time
needed for construction is then partly governed by the
For the shear deformation the following equation can be speed at which elements are brought up to the working
used: floor. An example calculation is based on a crane with
hoisting capacity-speed as given in figure 9.
qw H 2
 (4) The high speed of building gives considerable financial
2GA
advantages. For the Murray Grove building, Yates et al.
which, for the building of figure 8, gives a shear [4] estimated a 17 weeks time saving. When calculating
deformation at the top of around 40 mm. As a result, the the costs of tower cranes a monthly rent of at least 6.000
total deformation at the top is in the order of magnitude USD can be expected for tall buildings, so rental savings
of 200 mm or δ/H≈1/770. This is below the generally can be considerable over the construction time.
required limit of H/500 ≈ 300 mm.

The positive influence of the outriggers on the

deformation of the building has so far not be taken into
account. The bending deflection decreases, because the
bending deformation of the core is restrained. As a
consequence, the deflection w at the top of the building
is restrained by the three outriggers and is determined by
the following equation [12]:

wH 4 1
 max;b    M1 ( H 2  x12 )  M 2 ( H 2  x22 )  M 3 ( H 2  x32 ) 
8EI EI  (5)

The second part of this equation is analysis of further

study since it depends on the bending moments Mi at the
outrigger.

The maximum bending moment as a result of the wind

load is determined at Mw = 535·106 kNm. The wind load
is modelled according to the Chinese design code, giving
a higher wind load on the upper storeys than on the
lower. This bending moment is taken up by two bending
´beams´ (the core and the CLT frame) and leads to small
compression stresses on the right side of the building Figure 9: Crane speed as a function of jib, load and
(see figure 5) of around 1.4 N/mm2, presuming this part speed, Liebherr Cranes
of the timber building is designed for such compression
forces. The assumed wall thickness of CLT of 350 mm The hoisting time difference between prefabricated
and of concrete of 250 can be verified at this stage. concrete wall and a prefabricated CLT-wall is estimated
Similar stresses in tension can be found on the left side, on the basis of the floor plan given in figure 7.
if the timber infill building is connected to the outrigger Supposing the building includes 43 storeys (40 timber, 3
in such a way that tension stresses can indeed develop. If outriggers), each storey is 3.3m high, then for all
this is not the case, then the steel tension bars need to concrete elements it takes:
take up the tension forces. In this example, (lay-out of
figure 8), a total of 26 bars Ø 30 mm would be sufficient
n
W h W 2h W 3h W nh
with regard to strength.  C      ......  
i1 max. V Cmax. V Cmax. V Cmax. V (6)

4 CRANE TIMES in which

W = total storey weight,
One of the advantages of using wood as major structural C = the maximum capacity of the tower crane,
element is the high level of prefabrication that can be h = floor height,
achieved and the light weight in comparison to concrete. V = hoist speed.
This light weight brings considerable advantages during
the construction stage. Especially when tall buildings
The hoisting time, calculated as the accumulated vertical 5 CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
transportation time, is about one-third of that of
prefabricated concrete elements. Since weight counts A concept for very high buildings is presented that can
linearly, it also holds for in-situ concrete if not pumped. be constructed with large amounts of prefabricated
The fact that the crane has a larger reach with the CLT timber elements. Typical design aspects and mechanical
building elements weighing roughly 30% of that of parameters are identified as well as advantages during
concrete, leads to other advantages. This leads to fewer the construction stage. Structural details are in the
cranes needed on a single building site. These development process, especially with regard to the
advantages are however not directly quantifiable as they connections between steel bars and the outriggers as well
depend on the lay-out of the building site (crane as integration within the CLT elements. The connections
location(s)) as well as the building floor plan. between timber building and outriggers and core are
essential in the structural design and calculation process.
As calculated before, when all the other conditions keep There locations and stiffnesses determine the force flow
the same, one floor cross-laminated timber boards only inside the building, the overall stiffness of the building
need 8 times to be carried up to a certain level. and the amount of steel bars needed to take up the tensile
Therefore, compared to concrete walls, only one third forces. With the calculated example it seems that the
transportation’s time (approximately 22.6 hours) is construction principle is feasible. But many aspects need
required for the cross-laminated timber storey for a high- still to be analysed. If the core position changes, the
rise building. In respect of panels’ craning, much more structural analysis remains similar, but eccentricities
time can be saved by using CLT elements than by using have to be taken into account that may lead to higher
concrete members when a building rises higher. bending stresses and possibly torsion effects. Similarly,
in this example fixed thicknesses for both timber and
concrete have been taken, but the stresses indicate that
Table 1 : Basic hoisting time (40 storeys) timber thickness might be reduced.
Hoisting Another field of research and development is the fire
Hoisting time
time safety of the timber infill buildings. Until now, in many
Storey Height(m) CLT panels
concrete countries it is not possible to build higher than 5 to 6
(min)
(min) storeys with timber. Especially in this case, the fire
safety considerations for multi-storey buildings in timber
1 3.3 - - need to be combined with fire safety concepts used
2 6.6 9 3 nowadays in the analysis of skyscrapers.
3 9.9 14 5 Environmental impact is another advantage of using
4 13.2 19 7 CLT prefab elements instead of concrete. Not only
during production, also during the service life of the
5 16.5 24 8 building this allows for a considerable amount of carbon
storage, not being possible with other building materials.
… … ... ...
In addition, at the end of life, the CLT elements can
36 118.8 171 59 easily be adapted and reused or, if no other option is
possible, used for energy generation.
37 122.1 176 61
38 125.4 180 63 REFERENCES
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39 128.7 185 64
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