Analytical Models Tracing Deformation of Wood-Framed Walls During Vertical Transport

Vertical transport of wall-panels is a part of the prefabrication process of wood-framed buildings. The total dead weight of a wall is suspended on several lifting slings, pointwise clasping the top plate of the wall. This indicates, that all the weight of a wall is cumulated in sheathing-to-framing fasteners, usually staples. This article presents experimental investigations and analytical models evaluated for the description of light wood-framed walls in the process of lifting. Three different models cover the analytical approach: a model of a simple beam on elastic supports (BSS), a model of assembled beams (ACBS), three-dimensional (3D) spatial FE model of the wall (WFEM). Board-to-beam joint material parameters are determined on the base of experimental results. These connections are converted into two variants in the form of spring elements for 2D analysis, and beam elements for 3D analysis. The numerical results exhibit that the proposed models may correctly represent behavior of a real wall in lifting, applying elastic materials parameters.