The seismic characteristics of four typical mortise-tenon joints of Chinese southern traditional timber frame buildings were researched, including Yanwei mortise-tenon joint (including dropping Yanwei mortise-tenon joint), Shizigutou mortise-tenon joint, Ban mortise-tenon joint and Mantou mortise-tenon joint. Experiments on thirteen specimens were carried out. Failure modes, hysteresis curves, skeleton curves and rotational stiffness were studied. The results provided a theoretical basis for seismic research, protection and maintenance of Chinese southern traditional timber frame buildings. Chinese southern traditional timber frame building, mortise-tenon joint, seismic characteristics, rotational stiffness Citation:Chun Q, Yue Z, Pan J W. Experimental study on seismic characteristics of typical mortise-tenon joints of Chinese southern traditional timber frame buildings.

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Many timber lounge bridges are found in the south of ZhejiangProvince and the north of Fujian Province in China. The timber lounge bridge is a unique type of timber arch bridge structure worldwide. Most of these bridges have some damages due to the influence by environmental impact and human action. In order to scientifically preserve these timber lounge bridges, their architectural configuration, structural performance, and damage mechanisms should be studied first, and then some adaptive repair methods can be put forward. The Wenxing Lounge Bridge is a famous and typical example of this type of bridge. This study investigated in detail how to repair the Wenxing Lounge Bridge. Since this bridge had much serious damage, such as asymmetric deformation, inclination and torsion, cracking and deflection of some timber members, and the slipping-off of the scissors braces and the crossbeams, and since the bridge occasionally swayed when people walked across it, it needed to be repaired urgently. Through the detailed on-site surveying and visits to the local bridge craftsmen, the architectural configurations and the damage characteristics of this bridge were understood. The finite element model analysis of this bridge before damage and after damage was made respectively to study the structural performance. Finally, the reasons for the damages of this bridge were analyzed and the adaptive repair design of the bridge is presented here. This work serves as a model for similar timber arch bridges.

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Currently, the robustness of precast reinforced concrete frames is attracting wide attention. However, avoiding “strong beams and weak columns” during strengthening against progressive collapse is a key problem. To discuss this problem, an experimental study on two 1/2-scale precast frame subassemblages under a pushdown loading regime was carried out in this paper. One specimen was strengthened with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets on the beam sides. The middle parts of the CFRP sheets were anchored with hybrid fibre-reinforced polymer (HFRP) anchors. Another specimen was not strengthened. The failure mechanisms, failure modes, and strengthening effect are discussed. The strengthening effect is very obvious in the early catenary action stage. No shearing failure develops on HFRP anchors, which proves that the anchoring method is effective. Based on the experimental results, analytical models and preventive strengthening design and construction measures to mitigate progressive collapse of the precast RC frame are proposed.