Cumulative damage and residual deformation of structural components of Yingxian Wood Pagoda over its existence have caused widespread concern. Because Yingxian Wood Pagoda is a very complex ancient wooden structure, previous studies on single-storey and multistorey ancient structures are not very applicable. In this study, the deformation to the pagoda at the components, storey, and overall structure levels was monitored considering residual deformation, component cracking, and component connection conditions. The effects of different factors were preliminarily identified, including the structural weight, external impacts such as earthquakes and artillery shells, differences in moisture content according to sunlight exposure, and the prevailing wind direction. The study findings are useful in diagnosing the health and causes of deformation of unique buildings such as this in order to develop effective repair and restoration measures.
In this paper, a single-layer 1:2-scaled specimen of a timber building was fabricated according to the construction method of the Chinese Song Dynasty, and six quasi-static tests were conducted under three levels of vertical loads to investigate the associated seismic mechanism. The results in this study indicate that the vertical uplift of the timber structure caused by rocking under lateral loading is nonnegligible. During the quasi-static tests, a portion of the energy input to the timber structure, namely, the hysteretic energy, is dissipated through plastic and friction energy dissipation. The remaining energy is converted into gravitational potential energy (GPE) and elastic strain energy (ESE) through the uplift of the timber structure and the elastic deformation of wood components and stored in the timber structure. The hysteretic energy and ESE account for the majority of the input energy when the cyclic amplitude is small.The majority of the input energy is converted into GPE at large cyclic amplitudes. The storage and release of energy is the main mechanism that allows this type of traditional timber structure to resist earthquake actions. Moreover, the influences of the vertical load and loading time were studied.
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