APA – ENGINEERED WOOD By Borjen Yeh, Ph.D., P.E.
ONGOING UPGRADES to APA’S wood research and testing facilities in Tacoma, Wa., help the association set the industry’s highest standards to support innovation design and construction. (Images courtesy APA)
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A historical overview of the APA Research Center
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PA – The Engineered Wood Association’s Research Center in Tacoma, Wa., has long been recognized as one of the leading wood research facilities in North America. That position has strengthened over the years as facility expansions provide support for new and existing research and testing on engineered wood products and construction systems for the industry. Today, the association’s 42,000-sq. ft. research center is a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with modern research
and testing equipment and staffed by experienced engineers, wood scientists and engineering technicians.
Where It Began – Plywood Panels & Glulams
Built in 1969, the original 37,000-sq. ft. APA Research Center was constructed for testing of typical-sized 4-ft. by 8-ft. plywood panels. As the demand for full-scale tests on modern engineered wood products grew, the building was renovated in 1990 to accommodate other engineered wood products, such as 6-ft. deep by 72-ft. long glulam beams.
Full-Scale Wall Bracing & Combined Shear & Wind Uplift Testing
A FULL-SCALE shear wall test supports the use of wood structural panels with a large wall opening. Building-Products.com
With the trend toward full-scale structural testing, an extension designed for single-story house tests and test material storage was added to the research center in 2006. The research center extension was completed amid heated debates for wall bracing requirements under the International Residential Code (IRC). APA conducted several series of fullscale single-story house tests to support APA’s and industry’s position on the revisions of wall bracing requirements that were eventually published in the 2009 IRC. Subsequent tests continued for a few years until the completion of the 2012 IRC. APA focused on full-scale combined shear and wind uplift tests in 2007 and 2008 to show the superior performance of wood structural panels (plywood and OSB) when compared to other competing materials. Results obtained from July 2022 n Building Products Digest n
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