MiTek, a building industry innovator and enabler, continues to uncover ways to improve efficiencies and transform the building industry with better building solutions. In its latest endeavor, MiTek has designed and built a custom piece of equipment to perform lateral-load testing on walls that will allow the company to efficiently test and prove the safety of innovative solutions that resist wind and seismic loads on buildings.
MiTek made a significant capital investment in this new technology, which will have far-reaching impact. The lateral test rack will be used to innovate and optimize existing MiTek solutions including Hardy Frames and Cold Form Steel Moment Frames, as well as create new lateral load-resisting solutions that MiTek is developing to improve the resilience of structures, keeping people safe and improving sustainability.
MiTek partners around the world will benefit from this investment. In addition to the lateral test rack, MiTek’s Research & Design team is being expanded. Another engineer has been added to the team at the Fountain Lakes R&D facility in St. Charles, Missouri, where the test rack is housed. The engineer will work as part of MiTek’s Research & Design team under the supervision of the company’s lateral load expert.
Jesse Karns, MiTek Director, Research & Development for Structural Components, said MiTek has always been invested and engaged in product development and testing, but he said much of that testing has occurred at universities or third-party agencies as part of strategic partnerships. Karns is excited that having the lateral test rack on site will allow the team to do more in-house testing. He said customers will benefit because the company will have more control over the testing process and will, in turn, be able to build better and faster.
The rack itself consists of a large piston that uses hydraulic forces to push and pull parts of the structure. As part of the testing, a wall is placed in the lateral test rack and force is applied to it. The force simulates forces that one could expect to see in earthquake or wind events. Researchers are able to see how the wall responds and, ultimately, how it fails.
“That’s the important part, especially when we start talking about earthquake resistance and redundancy, resiliency, and residual strength,” Karns said.
The first series of tests included walls with various types of material on them, including plywood or OSB sheathing. These tests conducted on walls with known properties allowed for further verification of the new test rack’s accuracy. Depending on the type of hazard they’re looking to simulate, the team may push the wall in one direction or back and forth.
The team has numerous load cells and instruments to measure deflections as well as several cameras set up to simultaneously monitor many elements of a test. They are looking for a variety of possible actions to indicate a failure of some sort.
Karns said the current version of the lateral test rack can push about 200,000 pounds of force on the walls. Most single-family and multi-family walls fall within the 10,000-pound range maximum.
The lateral test rack was designed and equipped to expand as the need for testing larger loads grows. Eventually the team plans to test on larger building elements up to a three-story wall.
“We’re looking at improving existing systems and also developing new systems,” Karns said. “We have a chance to test and further develop systems that would further facilitate offsite and modular building.”