Seismic Behaviour of Straight‐Tenon Wood Frames with Column Foot Damage

Abstract

Timber buildings might incur damages after a long service, because column foot damage affects the structural performance under the continued use. In this paper, six straight-tenon joint wood frame specimens were prepared with varying degrees of two different damage conditions at a scale of 1 : 3.52. To obtain failure mode and hysteresis performance of the specimens, the low-cycle reciprocating loading test was conducted. The stiffness degradation curves and equivalent viscous damping curves of the damaged wood frames were also analysed. The mechanical characteristics of the wood frames with column foot damage under the low-cycle reciprocating load were then simulated using the finite element method, and the results were compared to the test results. It is determined that as the degree of column foot damage increases, the fullness and peak of the hysteresis curves for wood frames, the equivalent viscous damping coefficients, and the overall seismic behaviour of the wood frame all gradually decrease. The skeleton curves obtained by finite element analysis and tests showed good agreement, verifying the influence of column foot damage on the seismic behaviour of ancient wood frame structures.

A Wooden Pin Reinforcement of Ancient Chinese Wooden Temple: A Case of Daxiong Hall

“…The loading process includes two steps: (1) The boundary conditions are applied to both ends of the wooden column to control. (2) The displacement control is applied to the loading point.…”

“…Mortise-tenon joints (MTJs) are the characteristic construction technique used in traditional wooden structures. These joints allow the wooden components to form an integrated structure capable of meeting various requirements and withstanding different loads [1]. The first usage of MTJs can be traced back to the wooden structures at the Neolithic Hemudu site [2].…”

“…Similarly, Liu et al [5] reported damage to wooden structures primarily caused by MTJ failure during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and the 2015 Nepal earthquake. The damaged condition of wood structures often reveals deformation and damage to the key force transmission connections provided by MTJs [1]. In severe cases, MTJ damage can even lead to the structural collapse during strong earthquakes [6][7][8].…”

The Influence of the Damage of Mortise-Tenon Joint on the Cyclic Performance of the Traditional Chinese Timber Frame

“…Xue et al [19,20] carried out some tests on the through-tenon joints and dovetail joints by cutting the tenon size to simulate looseness, and the hysteresis behavior of these joints was remarkably affected. Li et al [21] conducted the low-cycle reciprocating load test on the straight-tenon joint wood frame with column foot damage, the results showed that this damage can decrease the fullness and peak of the hysteresis curves as well as the energy dissipation ability of the frame.…”