Sylvain Ménard

• Professor at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

Mass timber is increasingly being employed in constructing low- and mid-rise buildings. One of the primary reasons for using mass timber structures is their sustainability and ability to reduce environmental consequences in the building sector. One criticism of these structures is their lower subjective sound insulation quality. Therefore, acoustic...

This paper aims to develop an acoustic design methodology for CLT floor assemblies using artificial neural networks approach by integration of life cycle assessment (LCA). 72 Lab-based measurements are used to develop the acoustic prediction tool. They are related to 29 different CLT-based floor assemblies. The weighted sound reduction index (Rw),...

Construction professionals work in silos and use traditional design and construction methods. The growing demand for rapidly built and high-quality construction is making off-site manufacturing mainstream. Studies have shown that collaboration among all stakeholders is a necessary component for success in the construction of such buildings. This mu...

Recently, environmental awareness has been the key driver for using renewable materials that have low environmental impact and fulfill constructional requirements, such as timber. Despite the advantages of wood as a building material, it has a lower subjective quality of sound insulation. To fulfill the sound insulation requirements, it is, therefo...

High-rise wooden buildings are increasing in popularity, and they typically include cross-laminated timber in the structure. Taller buildings result in higher loads on the junctions lower down in the building, which are suggested in the literature to negatively affect the sound insulation. This study involved measurement of the vibration reduction...

Buildings with cross-laminated timber (CLT) has gained increasing popularity in several countries. In addition, buildings constructed with CLT are increasing in building height, which increases the load on the junctions and structural building elements lower down in the buildings. Furthermore, CLT offers sustainable features that can help the build...

Mass timber structural systems are increasingly used in the design of low and mid-rise buildings. One of the primary motivators for using mass timber structures is their low embodied carbon emissions (EC), which reduces a building’s carbon footprint. Despite this advantage, a criticism of mass timber structures in multi-story buildings is often poo...

The artificial neural networks (ANN) approach is applied to estimate the acoustic performance for airborne and impact sound insulation curves of different lightweight wooden floors. The prediction model is developed based on 252 standardized laboratory measurement curves in one-third octave bands (50 - 5000 Hz). Physical and geometric characteristi...

Buildings constructed with cross-laminated timber (CLT) are increasing in interest in several countries. Since CLT is a sustainable product, it can help the building industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, buildings constructed with CLT are increasing in building height, thereby increasing the load on the junctions and structural...

This paper presents experimental testing on glulam beam–column moment-resisting connections using glued-in rods (GiRod) and compares the results with model predictions. Three connection geometries and varying numbers of rods and member size were tested and compared. This experiment will be helpful in grounding research by bringing in new experiment...

Quantifying airborne and structure-borne sound insulation is an important design consideration for the indoor comfort in a building. Although sound insulation performance is commonly measured experimentally, numerical methods can have time-saving and economic benefits. Further, numerical methods can be incorporated within building simulations to pr...

Vibration reduction index () measurements in the field have some challenges compared to laboratory measurements. Firstly, the measurement requires access to a construction site during the short time span when the cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements are apparent. Secondly, building contractors are often on a tight time schedule. Therefore, it is i...

A prediction model based on artificial neural networks is adapted to forecast the acoustic performance of airborne sound insulation of various lightweight wooden façade walls. A total of 100 insulation curves were used to develop the prediction model. The data are laboratory measurements of façade walls in one-third-octave bands (50 Hz–5 kHz). For...

The susceptibility of plants to burn raises concerns about fire hazard that green roofs may pose to buildings. Main concerns relate to cases when such roofs are poorly maintained or stressed by drought conditions which leads to drying out of plants and the accumulation of dead organic material, greatly increasing the availability of fuel load. Exis...

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an engineered wood product made of multiple glued layers in the form of a panel suitable for flooring systems. CLT can also be mechanically connected to the concrete layer using the connector systems to create a CLT-concrete composite (CCC). This concept enhanced the structural performance of the floor and could be a...

Sound reduction is complex to estimate for acoustical treatments on ventilation ducts through walls. Various acoustical treatments are available for ventilation ducts, including internal lining (absorption along the inner perimeter), external lagging (external sound insulation), silencer, and suspended ceilings. Previous studies have examined how s...

To answer both the growth of the world’s urban population and the climate changes, new structural systems with high prefabrication levels and renewable materials need to be developed. A novel structural system that could enable the use of modular light-frame construction in high-rise buildings was modeled and analyzed. This system was achieved by h...

The artificial neural networks approach is applied to estimate the acoustic performance for airborne and impact sound insulation curves of different lightweight wooden floors. The prediction model is developed based on 252 standardized laboratory measurement curves in one-third octave bands (50–5000 Hz). Physical and geometric characteristics of ea...

The CLT-concrete composite (CCC) solution is appealing since it possesses many advantages of a timber-concrete composite flooring system with a small thickness. However, the vibration criteria is usually an obstacle in the design process, especially more onerous for the long-span floor. The present study focus on the dynamic properties (fundamental...

Ventilation ducts can have a negative effect on the sound reduction index between two rooms if they pass through the dividing structure without treatments. The overall sound reduction of a ventilation duct is dependent on several factors including the transmission loss when sound is breaking in and out from the duct. This study aims to model the so...

Recently, machine learning and its applications have gained a large attraction in different fields. Accurate predictions in building acoustics is vital especially in the design stage. This paper presents a sound insulation prediction model based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to estimate acoustic performance for airborne and impact sound insu...

Assessing the fire risk of vegetated roofs includes the determination of their possible contribution to fire. Green roof components such as plants and growing media are organic materials and present a fuel that can catch and support the spread of fire. The flammability characteristics of these components were analyzed and compared to a typical roof...

CLT-concrete composite floor systems are a solution for timber buildings with a long-span floor. It yields a reduction of carbon footprint and even eco-friendly structure at the end of its service life. This study will evaluate the structural performance of notched connectors in the CLT-concrete composite floor, comprised of the serviceability stif...

Small companies that prefabricate parts for the construction industry in the context of engineer-to-order (ETO) systems, often encounter production issues as they usually do not systematically optimise their planning. In this paper, a production planning method for a multi-project ETO system is proposed. Four optimisation models testing combination...

Currently, green roof fire risks are not clearly defined. This is because the problem is still not well understood, which raises concerns. The possibility of plants catching fire, especially during drought periods, is one of the reasons for necessary protection measures. The potential fire hazard for roof decks covered with vegetation has not yet b...

Modern architectural design has seen a shift towards iconic doubly-curved envelopes enclosing large column-free spaces. Gridshells have long been considered an efficient solution to such designs, but their actual use in practice has not spread worldwide. For elastic gridshells, their advantages in terms of substantial material savings can often be...

The fire performance of green roofs has never been assessed numerically. In order to simulate its fire behavior, the thermal conductivity of a growing media must be determined as an important input parameter. This study characterized the thermal conductivity of a dry substrate and its prediction as a function of temperature, considering temperature...

One important challenge of the wooden constructions is to achieve a high quality of acoustic insulation, especially decreasing the impact noise in the low-frequency range. In order to avoid over-designed solutions and expensive experimental tests in the design phase, reliable prediction tools are called for. This article is an initial investigation...

Low frequency impact sound insulation is a challenging task in wooden buildings. Low frequency prediction tools are needed to access the dynamic behavior of a wooden floor in an early design phase to ultimately reduce the low frequency impact noise. However, due to the complexity of wood and different structural details, accurate vibration predicti...

New possibilities offered by recent modelling software allow the design of organic shapes that are appealing to architects and engineers but may encompass serious issues such as an overconsumption of materials. In this context, there is a renewed interest in systems allowing the materialization of curved surfaces such as timber gridshells, which ca...

Purpose: Modular construction manufacturing (MCM) has been recognized as an efficient solution to improve standardization and increase efficiency in the construction industry. Production of engineered wood for construction projects may be considered as a type of MCM. The production system of design-specific engineered wood contains some repeatable...

Timber gridshell is a structure with a doubly curved shape that is made of grid timber laths. Gridshell structure can be a solution of interest in modern free-form structures that are environmentally sustainable. However, there is a lack of academic research focusing on the potential markets and the production stages based on this construction tech...

As a previous study has shown, it is possible to increase by 50% the dowel bearing strength of black spruce with an acrylate formulation applied by impregnation. Three diameters of bolts and two orienta- tions of loading were included in this study. The effect of treatment on the dowel-bearing strength appeared to increase while the diameter of bol...

Chemical impregnation of black spruce was conducted to enhance the wood embedment capacity. The formulation was made of 1,6 hexanediol diacrylate, trimethylpropane triacrylate, and a polyester acrylate oligomer. A second formulation, same as the first but with 1% wt of SiO2 nanoparticles, was selected to investigate the potential of nanoparticles a...